This weekend marks the 2023 season debut for many young Nigerian athletes training at universities in the United States. The recent success of Team Nigerian is in part due to the athletes' dedication displayed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as many promising athletes have migrated to the US to build up their bodies and minds at these prestigious universities. To preview what is sure to be an exciting season, we have five questions surrounding the athletes leading into the 2023 season.
1. Who Will Get the Best of These Friendly Nigerian Rivalries?
The NCAA has a plethora of Nigerian athletes competing this season, many of whom either attend the same university or are near each other geographically. Naturally, friendly rivalries will brew throughout the season including the ones below:
Favour Ofili vs Tima Godbless vs Ella Onojuvwevwo
This intrasquad rivalry between the Louisiana State University (LSU) sprinters will surely pay dividends throughout this season and beyond. Favour Ofili has been a star for the LSU program for the last two seasons and first-years Tima Godbless and Ella Onojuvwevwo will be competing together in practice and in track meets. The trio were teammates and medalists at the 2021 U20 World Championships and will be reunited on the same team once again.
Ofili, Godbless, and Onojuvwevwo vs. Rosemary Chukwuma
LSU and Texas Tech University, the home of Rosemary Chukwuma, are expected to face off throughout the 2023 season. Nigerian fans should keep an eye on these meets as the country’s fastest women will do battle multiple times in what could likely be a Nigerian Championship preview of the short sprints.
Rosemary Chukwuma vs. Ezinne Abba
Chukwuma is well aware of the grind of the Big 12 Conference and will be welcoming Ezinne Abba as a newcomer to the conference enrolling as a graduate student at the University of Texas. After switching allegiance to Nigeria in July 2022, this will be Abba’s first season racing under the Green-White-Green. She joins a stable of capable female Nigerian sprinters and sharing a conference with Chukwuma will be a good measuring stick of how she will perform internationally this season.
Ella Onojuvwevwo vs. Imaobong Nse Uko
The duo that won gold medals in the Women’s and Mixed 4x400m relay at the 2021 U20 World Championships will look to go head to head in the NCAA for the first time this season. Uko’s school, Baylor University, and LSU are not conference rivals, but the sprinters will likely face each other in local meets and at regional and national championship meets.
Godson Brume vs. Favour Ashe
Ashe made a big splash in his first season at the University of Tennessee grabbing the Southeastern Conference 100m dash title. During the offseason he transferred to Auburn University (same conference) which means he will continue to face fellow countryman Godson Brume who attends LSU. The two will meet multiple times throughout the season in the short sprints and are well acquainted, having raced each other eight times in their young careers so far.
2. What Will the Medal Count be for Nigerian Sprinters in the NCAA?
It is no secret that Nigeria’s young sprinting core is one of the most exciting groups of talent in the world, thus being dubbed a “Rising Sprinting Nation” after the 2021 U20 World Championships. The NCAA is the ultimate proving grounds for junior athletes as some of the best talents compete year in and year out, growing into professional athletes. Last season, Nigeria had one of the largest number of athletes in the NCAA of all countries and they had a strong showing in the Indoor and Outdoor National Championships.
In the Indoor Championships, Favour Ofili secured a silver medal in the 200m final, and Favour Ashe earned a bronze medal in the 60m final. In the Outdoor Championships, Ofili earned another silver medal in the 200m, while Ashe got a silver Medal in the 100m final. Udodi Onwuzurike (Stanford University) joined the medal party earning bronze in the 200m outdoor final. With five sprint medals collected in 2022, the Nigerian constituents will look to increase that total while also upgrading the colors to Golds and Silvers.
3. Who Will Qualify for Worlds During the NCAA Season?
Last season, 10 of the 24 athletes on Team Nigeria World Championship roster were student-athletes who earned their qualifying marks in NCAA competitions. Ahead of the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, two out of three potential spots in the women’s 100- and 200-meter sprints will be available along with all three potential spots in the men’s 100- and 200-meter sprints which have yet to be claimed. On the women’s side, spots are secure for Rosemary Chukwuma and Favour Ofili in the 100- and 200-meter races respectively. Both are also expected to run the World Championship standard in both races before the qualification window closes in July. Also look for Tima Godbless and Ezinne Abba to aim for the qualification standard during the NCAA season. The women’s automatic qualification standard is 11.08 seconds for the 100m and 22.60 seconds for the 200m, and by season’s end at least three runners are expected to reach these standards.
On the men’s side, Favour Ashe and Godson Brume will be gunning for automatic qualification to Budapest in the 100m. Along with them, Udodi Onwuzurike and Alaba Akintola (Middle Tennessee State University) are expected to make bids for both the 100m and 200m standards. Ashe, Onwuzurike, and Akintola ran the 100m standard for the 2022 World Championships while Onwuzurike and Akintola qualified for last year’s 200m either by running the standard or qualifying through World Ranking points. The men’s automatic qualification standard is 10.00 seconds for the 100m and 20.16 seconds for the 200m. If multiple men run the 100m standard, then it will be the first time since 2019 that multiple Nigerian men run 10.00 seconds or lower in the same season.
Also keep an eye on the Baylor University trio of Imaobong Nse Uko, Ezekiel Nathaniel, and Chinecherem Nnamdi to qualify for the World Championships during the season in the Women's 400 meter dash, Men's 400-meter hurdles, and Men's Javelin throw. Uko and Nathaniel achieved the automatic qualifying standard for the 2022 World Championships and will look to return by hitting the marks of 51.00 seconds and 48.70 seconds respectively. Nnamdi will look to qualify for his first Senior World Championship by hitting the entry standard of 84.50 meters.
4. How Much Workload Will the Athletes Take On?
At the end of the 2022 NCAA season, it became clear that some Nigerian athletes were feeling fatigued leading into July and August. Being part of an NCAA university program means competing in as many events as the coaches dictate in order to score points in meets. A prime example is Favour Ofili who in April 2022 broke the Nigerian outdoor 200m record and ran a personal best 10.93 seconds in the 100m one month later. By the time athletes were set to travel to Benin City for the Nigerian Championships in late-June, Ofili had been feeling the effects of running 56 races for LSU between January and June 2022. She had run everything from the 60m to the 4x400m. She decided to skip the Nigerian Championships and only make herself available for the 200m and 4x100m relay at the World Championships and Commonwealth Games to conserve her strength. LSU benefitted from her immense talent as she scored points across multiple events, but once she suited up for Team Nigeria she was understandably limited based on what was left in her tank.
Other athletes had similar experiences, running fast times during the NCAA season but due to the workload (along with other potential factors) did not compete as well as they could have on the international stage. Many of the athletes were in their first or second year last season, so as they mature their results may be better this time around. However, the workload of Nigerian athletes especially those who are talents in multiple events should be monitored as Team Nigeria fans would want the athletes to do well in the NCAA and still be fresh enough to have top performances at the World Championships.
5. Who Will Become a World Beater by the End of the Season?
Every season, a handful of collegiate athletes can dominate the NCAA circuit and within the same season move up to the international stage continuing their strong performances to become world beaters. In 2022, one of the biggest NCAA success stories was Abby Steiner who attended the University of Kentucky. Steiner broke Favour Ofili’s NCAA record in the 200m final to win gold at the NCAA Outdoor National Championship, then turned around to make the World Championship final in the 200m for the US. She also won two World Championship gold medals as part of the US women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relays. Another was Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh who competed for the University of Florida. He won double gold medals in the 100m and 200m at the NCAA Outdoor National Championship. A couple of weeks later at the World Championships, the young sprinter finished 4th in the 200m final establishing himself as a major medal threat for the foreseeable future.
Many Nigeria track fans will be looking with high expectations to see which athletes will enter this new level of excellence, dominating on the NCAA level then transitioning to the World Championship stage with similar results. There are many candidates for Nigerian NCAA World Beaters this season and only time will tell who will rise to the top. A new season births new, grand expectations for everyone. Athletics fans across the globe should keep an eye on the development of these collegiate athletes throughout the season. Follow their progress and cheer them on because for Nigeria the future of this sport will be molded through this system and the fruits of the athletes’ perseverance will be presented for all to see.
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