NCAA final my biggest athletics miss – Ajayi News

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NCAA final my biggest athletics miss – Ajayi

By Daily Sports Nigeria on August 14, 2025

Nigerian sprinter and former men’s 100m national champion, Konyinsola Ajayi, has described his fourth-place finish at this year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships as the biggest disappointment of his budding athletics career, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

Ajayi finished fourth in Oregon with a time of 10.13s, after producing the fastest time in the semis.

Ajayi had commanded attention after a blistering semi-final performance where he ran a new personal best of 9.92s — the fastest time of the round — breaking Auburn’s school record and becoming the joint fourth fastest Nigerian ever over the distance, alongside Seun Ogunkoya and Udodi Onwuzurike.

The 20-year-old had since recovered from the miss, but he reflected on the miss during a chat with PUNCH Sports Extra.

“I was in my best form, so losing the nationals is my biggest disappointment in track and field. I’ve never had any disappointment like that, so coming from there, I just told myself this is part of the game and I just had to refocus,” he said.

“It isn’t the end of the journey because I have a lot in me. So, I just keep trusting myself.”

The Auburn University athlete didn’t hold anything back after the miss, as he continued his sensational form at the Meeting International Sotteville-lès-Rouen in France, where he powered to a personal best-equalling 9.92s to win the men’s 100m and break the meet’s nine-year record.

The Auburn University star now holds two of the five fastest legal times in Nigerian sprint history, both at age 20, and has joined Davidson Ezinwa and Ogunkoya with four career sub-10s, the second most by any Nigerian.

Source Punch Ng

Posted August 14, 2025