Fast-rising Nigerian swimmer, Abiola Ogunbanwo on Wednesday set a new record in the women’s 100m freestyle, as she swam to a time of 59.74 seconds at the ongoing Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, megasportsarena.com reports.
Although her time was not good enough o qualify her for the next round of the event in The Land of The Rising Sun, Ogunbanwo set a new mark to erase the previous time that had been unassailable since 2007.
The 17-year-old ‘mermaid’ sent tongues wagging when she won heat one with a new personal best time, as she finished ahead of Andela Antunovic of Montenegro in second and Gaurika Singh of Nepal placed third.
However, her winning time fell short of the best 16 that progressed into the semi-final, but that did not take the shine off the new status of Ogunbanwo, who is now the first Nigerian woman ever to finish this event in less than one minute.
Ogunbanwo’s time ranked 48th overall but, as a teenager participating in her first outing at the Olympic Games, the future appears very bright for her and July 28, 2021 will now be crested in the annals of history.
The epochal feat at Tokyo Aquatics Centre also means Ngozi Monu’s Nigerian 100m women’s freestyle swimming record of 1:00.50, which was enacted in 2007, was thrown into the thrash can of history, while Ogunbanwo added her new mark to the female 400m freestyle and 200m breaststroke national records she currently holds.
