Nigerian sprinter, Kanyinsola Ajayi, on Monday night, impressed by equalling his personal best of 9.92 seconds at the Meeting International Sotteville-les-Rouen in France. Besides grabbing a deserved victory, he also carded a new meeting record at the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver event.
  
Ajayi, fresh off a sensational NCAA season, transferred his collegiate form seamlessly to the elite international circuit, matching the time that already ranks as the fourth-fastest in Nigerian history. The previous record at the Sotteville meeting was the 10.02secs set by Trinidad and Tobago’s Keston Bledman in 2015.
  
The 100m final saw an African sweep of the podium: Kanyinsola Ajayi (Nigeria) – 9.92s; Emmanuel Eseme (Cameroon) – 10.04s, and Mamadou Fall Sarr (Senegal) – 10.10s.
  
Ajayi, who reached the 100m semifinals at the Paris 2024 Olympics, has shown remarkable consistency in 2025. He broke 10 seconds thrice in outdoors, and clocked under 6.60 seconds seven times indoors, including a national record-tying 6.48s at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
  
With the World Championships in Tokyo slated for September looming large, Ajayi is fueling hopes that he may finally break Nigeria’s 100m final drought—an 18-year absence since Olusoji Fasuba placed fourth in Osaka 2007.
  
If Monday night’s race in Sotteville is anything to go by, the road to Tokyo may have just found its most promising Nigerian sprinter in nearly two decades.