African U18 and U20 Championships: Godbless, Okwose, and Ogazi smash records for double titles in Zambia

Faith Okwose

African U18 and U20 Championships: Godbless, Okwose, and Ogazi smash records for double titles in Zambia

Funmilayo Fameso 21:17 - 02.05.2023

A record-breaking performance from Tima Godbless, Samuel Ogazi, and Faith Okwose at the African U18 and U20 Championships in Zambia.

Team Nigeria's dominance in the sprints continued as the trio of Tima Godbless, Faith Okwose, and Samuel Ogazi won their second gold medal in Championship Records (CR) at the African U18 and U20 Championships in Zambia.

Godbless, who won the U20 100m title in 11.45s but missed Mercy Nku's CR of 11.38s, made up for it in the 200m with a blazing time of 23.25s for sprints double scoop.

Tima Godbless scoops sprints titles at the African U18 and U20 Championships in Zambia
African U20 Championships 100m medallists, L-R Rejoice Sule, Kalya Murray, and Tima Godbless

By doing this, she smashed Delphine Atangana's Championship Record of 23.40s set in 2003.

Consequently, Okwose achieved the same feat in the girl's U18 category, storming to the 200m title in a lifetime best and CR of 23.31s (-0.2), which erased Favour Ofili's record of 23.38s clocked in 2019.

Faith Okwose scoops sprints titles at the African U18 and U20 Championships in Zambia
Faith Okwose

Okwose has not just two sprints gold medals but two CRs, having won the 100m title in a brilliant time of 11.53s to smash Nicola de Bruyn's record of 11.73s set in 2015.

In the Boy's U18 200m final, Ogazi sped to a massive time of 20.93s (-0.4) to break the sub-21s barrier for the first time in his career.

Samuel Ogazi claims 200m and 400m titles at the African U18 and U20 Championships in Zambia
Samuel Ogazi

The youngster had first done the unthinkable in the 400m, blazing to a Championship Record of 46.01s, which obliterated the previous record of 46.26s set by South Africa's Lythe Pillay in 2019.

Noteworthy is that he went to the championship with a Personal Best of 47.28s and dropped it by more than one second, which speaks volumes of his talent.

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