Tokyo Olympics: Ogunbanwo becomes first Nigerian woman to finish 100m freestyle under a minute

Abiola Ogunbanwo has become the first Nigerian woman to finish the women’s 100 meters freestyle in swimming under one minute.

The 17-year-old posted the new personal best of 59.74 seconds on Wednesday at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics in Japan.

Ogunbanwo also got Nigeria its second victory of the games, after winning heat one of women’s 100m freestyle in the swimming event.

With the feat, she has broken a longstanding Nigerian record of 1:00.50 set by Ngozi Monu, which had served as the benchmark since 2007.

The feat, however, could not get her a place in the semi-finals — meant for the best 16 swimmers — after she finished in an overall ranking of 48th place when the six heats were concluded.

Ogunbanwo arrived in Tokyo with a personal best of 1:00.77. She also entered the record books as only the 10th Nigerian to take part in swimming at the Olympic games.