Paris 2024: Team Nigeria’s Kanyisola Ajayi and Favour Ashe through to 100m men’s semifinals

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

In their debut Olympics, Team Nigeria duo of Kanyinsola Ajayi and Favour Ashe will feature in the semi-finals of men’s 100m at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Ajayi has put everyone on notice, running through to win heat 5 of men’s 100m in a time of 10.02s (-0.3).

He defeated the Olympic champion, Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs who finished second in 10.05s, with Ghana’s Abdul-Rasheed Saminu coming in third in a time of 10.06s.

Kanyinsola will be hoping to build on his good form when he competes in the men’s 100m semis.

He has been drawn in heat 2 and will be facing off with Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo and South Africa’s Akani Simbine.

There’s also United States of America (USA’s) Kenneth Bednarek to contend with in that race.

Meanwhile, Ashe also qualified for the men’s 100m semi-finals despite a fourth-place finish in heat 4 in a time of 10.16s.

Jamaica’s Oblique Seville won the heat in a time of 9.99s ahead of Japan’s Hakim Brown with 10.02s and Thailand’s Puripol Boonson in third place with 10.13s.

Ashe has been drawn in heat 1 of the men’s 100m semifinals on Sunday.

The Nigerian nightmare will be going up against USA’s Noah Lyles, Jamaica’s Oblique Seville, Great Britain’s Louie Hinchliffe, Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme, and Ghana’s Benjamin Azamati for a place in the final.