On the third day of the 16th Africa Junior Swimming Championship in Cairo, 17-year-old Adama Abduljabal stormed to victory in the men’s 50m freestyle, blasting through the previous African junior record of 22.65 seconds with a breath-stealing 22.54-second swim to claim his second gold medal of the meet.
Just two days earlier, Abduljabal had earned bronze in the 100m freestyle with a time of 50.12 seconds, before upgrading that to gold in the same event at 49.80 seconds on April 30.
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Speaking after his record-breaking race, he dedicated the achievement to “everyone who believed in our program,”
Nigeria’s contribution to the final went beyond Abduljabal, as backstroker Kashope Obatoyinbo, despite battling injury this season, qualified for the 50m freestyle final and slashed his personal best from 24.40 to 23.92 seconds to finish sixth.
Fellow teammates also posted strong results: Ayobami White narrowly missed the podium with a 2:07.45 in the 200m butterfly, Demilade Akanbi set a personal record of 1:12.80 to place fifth in the girls’ 100m breaststroke, and distance specialist Oluwatimilehin held steady in the 1,500m freestyle, finishing seventh in 17:05.60.
With Abduljabal’s two golds and a bronze and multiple top-eight finishes across the pool program, Nigeria currently holds third place on the medal table behind South Africa and Egypt—its largest junior swimming squad ever sent to an African Championship.
Aquatic Federation President Chinonye Daphey Aliyu celebrated the “culmination of long-term investment in talent and high-performance coaching,” expressing confidence that the juniors will continue to rewrite Nigeria’s aquatic narrative as the championships run through May 3.
