Favour Ofili sets new African Record in NCAA meet

Nigeria’s Star Girl, Favour Ofili, has shattered the African Record in the women’s 200m sprint, further enhancing her reputation as the greatest African woman to run the distance. The 20-year-old finished with a silver medal at the ongoing NCAA ITF Championship while representing her school, Louisiana State University, at the meet.

A member of the Team Nigeria contingent that dominated women’s athletics at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Favour Ofili won a silver medal in the 200m event in the competition. She also helped Team Nigeria to win gold in the women’s 4x100m relay.

Ofili set a new African Record on Day One of the Meet as she completed the race in 22.11s, winning her Heat and qualifying for the finals. By so doing, she also broke her own African record for a fifth time, set a new school record, and a new meet record. Also, her time was the second fastest in collegiate history and the fourth fastest in the women’s indoor 200m in world history. It was also the fastest 200m time by any woman in the world in 2023.

Having qualified for the final, Ofili once more appeared at the starting blocks looking to pick up another collegiate medal. The 20-year-old was, however, beaten to gold by Texas’ Julien Alfred, who posted an incredible time of 22.01s to finish ahead of the Nigerian, who finished in 22.20s to pick up her second NCAA indoor 200m silver medal.

On a personal note, Favour Ofili further distinguished herself as Africa’s Alpha in the women’s 200m. In the final, she ran her 15th sub-23s race in the distance, at least 12 more than any other African woman in history.

Since she first broke the African Record in 2021, she has gone on to break it four more times in the past two years. She entered into 2023 with a Personal Record of 22.46s and has obliterated that time already just three months into the year.