Blessing Okagbare, a Nigerian track, and field athlete, has become the second-fastest woman in the world after she finished 10.63 seconds at the national Olympics trials in Lagos.
The time also breaks her own personal record as the fastest African and Nigerian woman ever.
The Nigerian queen of the track ended up a millisecond behind Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce on the World Athletics’ log.
The 32-year-old, who was running in the country for the first time since 2016, breezed past her competitors at the women’s 100 metres final.
She finished the race at 10.62 seconds but a +2.7 tailwind forced the time back to 10.63 seconds.
“I feel like Blessing Okagbare once again. And I just want to go out every time and do my best. I feel happy. I’m really happy that this time came down today. It boosts my confidence. I just hope this same thing happens at the Olympics,” she said after the race.
“I’ve been working on everything in general. I hope it clicks where it counts at the big stage. I have to go to the Games and do better than this or reciprocate it. This finish boosts my confidence going to the Games.”
Okagbare’s record is, however, subject to ratification by the World Athletics.
Rosemary Chukwuma finished second ahead of Grace Nwokocha in third.
Blessing Okagbare-Otegheri is a Nigerian track and field athlete who specializes in long jumping and short sprints. She is an Olympic and World Championships medalist in the long jump, and a world medalist in the 200 meters.
Due to Okagbare’s athletic physique, she was encouraged to embrace sports. She played football as a teenager while in high school.
In 2004, she picked interest in track and field sports, participating in long jumps , triple jumps and high jumps in national school competition. She won the bronze medal in the 2004 Nigerian National Sports Festival.
Blessing Okagbare got married to a Nigerian footballer Igho Otegheri in September 2014. They have a daughter.