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Nigeria's speed sensation Samuel Ogazi has become the fastest teenager in history for his age category, thus he is faster than Usain Bolt in the 400m event.
Nigeria's rising star Samuel Ogazi showed his qualities again as the next big name in the men's 400m event after breaking the 400m World Best record for an 18-year-old to become faster than the great Usain Bolt.
Ogazi stormed to a blistering 44.53s to win his quarter-final heat at the NCAA East preliminaries, thus punching his ticket to the national championships in two weeks.
By doing this, the University of Alabama freshman lowered his previous Personal Best (PB) of 44.58s clocked at the South Eastern Conference (SEC) Championships, which made him claim the silver medal behind Christopher Morales Williams, who raced to a Canadian National Record (NR) of 44.05s.
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19:48 - 12.05.2024
17-year-old sensation becomes fastest Nigerian 400m runner since the great Innocent Egbunike
Samuel Ogazi is a star for the future after clocking the second-fastest time by a Nigerian 400m runner in history to qualify for Paris Olympic Games.
Ogazi, who just celebrated his 18th birthday on May 14 this year, has now become the fastest teenage quarter-miler in history, faster than Bolt at that age with 45.35s as a 17-year-old and 45.28s as a 21-year-old (the track icon's PB in the event).
Also, the Nigerian is now sixth on the all-time U20 list, and considering he still has over a year to pass the age category, he now stands as the favourite to break Steve Lewis's longstanding WR of 44.87s set in 1988.
Samuel Ogazi's meteoric progress in 2024
Transferring to the NCAA system after a breakout year in 2023, where he won all national, continental, and Commonwealth Games titles in the U18 category, Ogazi showed he's a man on a mission with his very first race of the season.
His flashes of brilliance began by blazing to a new PB of 45.35s at the Battle of the Bayou in Louisiana, then dropped it to a brilliant 45.29s in his next race at the Tom Jones Invitational.
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Competing at the SEC Championships, Ogazi ran an easy 45.49s in his heat before his outstanding 44.58s in the final, making him Nigeria's second-fastest man in history behind the legendary Innocent Egbunike (44.17s), the National U20 record, School Record, and No.6 all-time in world U20 history.
Lowering this to the present time has now strengthened his hold on this record's - one which he's bound to break further as the season progresses.
What next for Samuel Ogazi
With the NCAA Championships next and the Paris Olympics on the horizon, Ogazi will be gunning to lower his time and perhaps become the first Nigerian man in history to break the 44s mark.
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He was also pivotal for the Nigerian mixed 4x400m relay team qualifying for the Olympics at the World Relays in the Bahamas, for which he and the rest of the squad will be aiming for a medal in Paris.
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