Blessing Okagbare came through strongly in the closing stages of the 100m to win in 10.97 seconds with Morolake Akinosun finishing second in 11.09 at the USATF Grand Prix held at Hayward Field, Eugene,Oregon on Saturday.
The time not only puts the Nigerian among the top five athletes who have dipped inside 11 seconds so far this season,it was also her first race legally under 11 seconds since May 4,2018 when she ran 10.90 seconds to place second at the Doha leg of the money-spinning World Athletics Diamond League.
It was Okagbare’s 19th sub 11 seconds performance in the blue ribband race since she first broke the 11 seconds barrier in July 2012 when she ran 10.99 seconds at the Aviva London Grand Prix in Crystal Palace, London.
That year she broke 11 seconds four times,ending the season with a then 10.92 seconds personal best to win semifinal three at the London Olympic Games.
The following year,Okagbare did what no Nigerian has legally done in the history of the race as she raced inside 10.90 and 10.80 seconds in one day.She first set a new Nigerian and African record of 10.86 seconds in the first semi final heat at the London Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games held at the Olympic Stadium in London before finding a totally different gear to break the African record for the second time,stopping the clocking at 10.79 seconds.
No African woman has ever achieved that feat at that time and the Nigeran reigned as African record holder for three years before Ivorian Muriel Ahoure ran a hundreth of a second faster in June 2016.
That year,Okagbare went to the World Athletics Championships in Moscow,Russia to become the second Nigerian to win an individual medal at both the Olympics and the Worlds after Glory Alozie and also the only Nigerian to win two individual medals at the same World Athletics Championships courtesy her long jump silver and 200m bronze medals.
In 2014,she raced thrice inside 11 seconds with the 10.85 seconds she ran to win the 100m gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow,Scotland her personal season’s best and second fastest time ever.
The following year she broke 11 seconds six times,setting a personal season’s best of 10.89 seconds at the semifinal stage of the Beijing World Athletics Championship.
Interestingly since she made the final with her 10.89 seconds performance in Beijing,the beautiful,long legged Okagbare is yet to race in the final of a major sporting event