Kanyinsola Ajayi finished sixth on Sunday with a time of 10.00 seconds in the men’s 100m final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Gatekeepers News reports that the race was won by Jamaica’s Oblique Seville, who set a personal best of 9.77 seconds. His compatriot Kishane Thompson took silver in 9.82 seconds, while Noah Lyles of the United States claimed bronze with a season’s best of 9.89 seconds.
Ajayi, who had impressed in the semi-finals by running 9.93 seconds to qualify automatically, could not repeat the same performance in the final.
However, he became the first Nigerian in 18 years to reach the men’s 100m final and finished as the second-best African in the race.
South Africa’s Gift Leotlela placed fifth with 9.95 seconds, while Ajayi came ahead of fellow African Akani Simbine, who ran 10.04 seconds. Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo was disqualified for a false start.
Ajayi is only the second Nigerian athlete to qualify for a final in Tokyo 2025. So far, 11 of Nigeria’s 15 athletes have exited the competition, leaving only four still in contention; Udodi Chudi Onwuzurike (200m), Ezekiel Nathaniel (400m hurdles), Charles Godfred (long jump), and Tobi Amusan (100m hurdles).
