Fast-rising Nigerian sprinter, Devine Oduduru is facing up to the reality that he has a tall order lying ahead of him, if he is to realise his ambition of getting a medal in the men’s 100m at this year’s Olympic Games, megasportsarena.com reports.
While the USA-based collegiate sprinter has been hailed all along as a potential medalist at the Games in Tokyo, his eyes opened to stark reality in his latest race, as he could only end up third behind South Africa’s Akani Simbine.
Oduduru started well but fell short in the race that saw Simbine become Africa’s latet 100m men’s record holder, following his sensational 9.84 seconds run to win the blue ribband event at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial in Budapest, Hungary.
Simbine’s time is a hundreth of a second faster than the 9.85 seconds set by another Nigerian, Olusoji Olatokunbo Fasuba, which the now retired ace ran in 2006 in Doha, Qatar, leaving Oduduru wondering if he would live up to the billing at the delayed 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan later this month.
Before Tuesday’s race, Oduduru was touted as the man capable of rewriting Fasuba’s record, as he scorched to a 9.86 seconds finish to win USA’s National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) 100m title in 2019.
However, since then, Simbine has shown he deserves to be crowned the latest fastest man from the continent, as the South African continued from his incredible feat in the 100m to again race past Oduduru in the 200m to successfully complete a sprint double.
Oduduru, who is also Nigeria’s men’s 200m record holder, was competing for the first time since May 31 and looked to be coasting home to victory, after leading for all of 150m margin, until Simbine charged up to stop the clock at 20.25 seconds.
Oduduru was third in 20.38 seconds but, with less than a month to the start of the Olympics, he will have to find the form that saw him run inside 20 seconds (19.88) two months ago to stand a chance of making his first individual final.
The odds are daunting already, such that Nigerians will have to pray earnestly for a miracle from the lad, who first crated a buzz after stumbling out at the semi-final stage five years ago in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he made his debut at the Olympics.
