Nigeria’s Okoli is the new face of British youth athletics

Just as her compatriot, Christine Ohuruogu, did 15 years ago, British-born Nigerian 100 metres sprinter, Olivia Okoli, has taken United Kingdom’s athletics circuit by storm. At two separate meets recently held in England, Okoli clinched the English and British Schools U17 100m Women’s titles.

Okoli, a 16-year old A-Levels student of St. Catherine’s School, Bramley, Guildford, Surrey in England, is a member of the Guildford and Godalming Athletics Club in Surrey, South East of England.

Okoli beat the rest of the field to be crowned the English Schools Athletics Association (ESAA) U17 Women 100m champion in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England on the of July 9, 2016 in a time of 12.08s in very wet conditions and into a headwind of -1.8. She beat last year’s champion, Charmont Webster-Tape, in a photo-finish.

Okoli had achieved her personal best time (PB) of 11.90s in winning her semifinal the previous day.

A week later, on July 16, 2016 in Ashford, Kent, England, Okoli, competing for England, added the British Schools U17 Women 100 metres title to her collection, blitzing the field in a time of 11.91 seconds to claim the gold medal (against a strong headwind of -3.3) at the Schools International Athletics Board (SIAB) Athletics Meet.

The competition featured elite representatives from the Schools’ Athletic Associations of England, Scotland, Wales and All Ireland. Her arch-rival Webster-Tape came second in a time of 12.32seconds.

The 2016 season is Okoli’s first major season nationally in England, having previously competed mainly regionally within the Surrey County and environs, with a few exceptions at the National Prep Schools Junior Championships in 2012 and 2013, due to academic commitments.

In June 2015, she achieved 9 A*s (A Stars) in her GCSE examinations, before commencing her A-Levels in September 2015.

Incidentally, while her PB of 11.90s is the 100 metres Senior, U-20 and U-17 Women record for her Athletics club in Surrey, Okoli remains the only athlete in the top 30 U-17 Women 100 metres athletes in the United Kingdom without a full-time coach.