The 19-year-old, who became the first collegiate athlete to break 22 seconds, is the fifth fastest 200m runner this season.
She spoke exclusively to Olympics.com about her hopes to become one of the best female sprinters in the world and how Olympic champions Allyson Felix and Elaine Thompson-Herah are inspiring her.
Nigeria’s up-and-coming sprint star Favour Ofili is fearless, fast and aware of her potential.
“We (African sprinters) now believe in ourselves. We now believe that anything is possible,” she told Olympics.com ahead of the 2022 World Athletics Championships.
The 19-year-old broke the U.S. collegiate record in the 200m on 15 April, running to a 21.96, a Nigerian record and the second-fastest ever by an African. That record lasted just short of two months before Abby Steiner set a new collegiate record clocking 21.80 seconds on 6 June at the NCAA Athletics Championships in Eugene.
In the 100m the Nigerian sprinter also recorded two sub-11-second times in one week – a wind-aided 10.90 and a personal best of 10.93 in April 2022 – moving her to third on the all-time list of her country.
It’s been a quick turnaround for the new ‘Star Girl’ of Nigerian athletics. Her best distance was the 400m until 2021, when she dropped down to the 100m and 200m.
On the back of her recent results, Ofili now returns to the Hayward Field in Oregon as one of the favourites for team Nigeria at the 2022 World Athletics Championships.
“My mandate is to go there and win regardless of what happens. Run each heat, semi-finals fast and advance. Once you get to the finals anything can happen. I am going there to win.”
Source: olympics.com
Facebook Comments