By

Ebube Dike

Nigeria’s hope of returning to the good old days in athletics received a boost last weekend when sprinter Divine Oduduru, return an impressive time of 9.95seconds, at the Michael Johnson invitational meet in Waco Texas, USA.

Divine Oduduru, a student of Texas State University of Technology enters the history books as the first Nigerian sprinter to break into the 10.00 seconds barrier since 2006, when Olusoji Fasuba broke the African record with a 9.85 seconds run in Doha, Qatar.

In the same event, Oduduru had ran 19.76 seconds in the 200m to erase (subject to ratification) the 19.84 seconds national record held by Francis Obikwelu since 1999. Oduduru’s 19.76 is the third fastest African time in the 200m.

Frankie Fredericks has the fastest time of 19.68 seconds, which is the African record since 1996.