Nigeria ‘Star Girl’ Favour Ofili will return to 100m racing action at the Edwin Moses Legends Meet today, seeking an automatic Paris Olympic qualification in the event.
Ofili’s last time out in the 100m saw her clock a blistering wind-aided 10.78s (2.2m/s) at the LSU Invitational last month, so will be gunning to run a legal sub-11s for an automatic Olympic ticket.
She’ll be up against a formidable field that’ll pose enough challenge to actualize this, featuring veteran US sprinter English Gardner and her compatriots Tamara Clark and Morolake Akinosun, in-form Canadian sprinter Audrey Leduc, Javianne Oliver, and Celera Barnes.
The 21-year-old speedster has been in tremendous form this season, starting the year with a 300m African Record (AR) of 35.99s to smash Amantle Montsho’s 14-year-old previous time of 36.33s.
A few weeks later, she stormed to the second-fastest 100m season opener by a Nigerian athlete in history behind Okagbare, with a then-all conditions world lead of 10.85s. Then blazed to a legal 22.33s to win the women’s 200m elite event at the Tom Jones Invitational, and at the Adidas Atalanta City Games, she broke the 150m straight AR with a massive 16.30s (-0.0 m/s) – the second-fastest time in history and quickest an African woman has completed the race, despite stumbling ever so slightly at the start.
With Paris Olympic qualification on the line, Ofili will be aiming for another record-breaking performance to continue with her consistent form this season.
