Adedokun Waliyu 
Favour Ofili, the Nigerian sprinter, has set an African women’s indoor record in 200 meters after she dipped 22.36 seconds at the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, South Carolina, US.
The Louisiana State University (LSU) undergraduate blitzed across the indoor circuit on Saturday to retire the 22.48-second record she set at the Southeastern Conference Championships in February 2022.
Ofili’s latest performance makes her the second-fastest time in US collegiate history and the sixth-fastest in the world.
The performance was a continuation of the 20-year-old’s sterling outing in the 2022 season when she broke Blessing Okagbare’s record to become the fastest Nigerian woman in 200 metres.
Ofili clocked 21.96 at the 2022 Tom Jones Memorial and became the first Nigerian woman to run under 22 seconds in a 200 meters race — only the second woman in African history.
She also won a silver medal in the women’s 200 meters race at the 2022 NCAA outdoor championship.
She then claimed a silver medal in the same event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, finishing behind only Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah.
Ofili was also part of the Nigerian quartet — alongside Tobi Amusan, Rosemary Chukwuma, and Grace Nwokocha — that won gold in the women’s 4×100 meters relay in Birmingham. However, the medal is under review following Nwokocha failing a doping test.
