Nigeria’s men’s 100m record holder, Kayinsola Ajayi has blown the lid off a couple of secrets that helped him equal his national mark of 9.84 seconds on Saturday in London, where he beat current world champion, Oblique Seville of Jamaica in the process.
READ ALSO: NCAA Champion Kanyinsola Ajayi Stuns World Champion Seville to Win London Diamond League 100m
Sports247 reports that Ajayi was again in sensational form at the Diamond League event, after which the 21-year-old sprinter from Ikorodu in Lagos State disclosed that he simply told himself before the race that he must plan his approach very well and be fully determined to win.
The vastly-improved USA-based sprinter added that he also knew he had to maintain his momentum and pacing from start to finish, while staying focused on the finish line, until he hit the tape ahead of his rivals.
Ajayi, who appeared for the race with a new hairstyle and wore a purple vest, even had the luxury of looking across his shoulder at the other athletes towards the end, which caused him to slow down a little just before hitting the tape.
That left many observers reasoning that Ajayi could have finished Saturday’s race with a faster time, thereby raising expectations of yet another historic outing for the new rave of the moment as the days go by.
Nonetheless, his performance was good enough to edge in ahead of Seville, who settled for second place with 9.87, while Great Britain’s Romell Glave finished third in a personal best time of 9.97sec.
As he now heads to Nigeria’s camp ahead of the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, starting on July 23rd, Ajayi further disclosed that he told himself to stay calm, aim for a quick start at the blocks and steady his strides until he hit the tape, all of which worked for him.
“I just came out here and did what I had to do. I’m happy; I got the job done. I got out of the blocks like ‘Boom!’ I knew that if I did my start well then everything was over,” added Ajayi, whose winning time equalled his season’s best.
Sports247 adds that Ajayi’s ability to equal his new Nigerian 100m record twice in a single month buttressed his gold-medal-winning status heading into Glasgow 2026 as one of the world’s fastest athletes this year.
It also means the two-time and current NCAA 100m winner is among the top tips for gold at the Games in Glasgow, where he is bound to enhance his reputation as one of athletics’ brightest sprint stars of the current dispensation.
