2024 NCAA Championships: History beckons for Nigeria as three speed sensations storm to 100m final

For the second consecutive year, Nigeria will have three representatives in the men's 100m final at the NCAA Championships as the trio of Kanyinsola Ajayi, Godson Brume, and Favour Ashe have successfully made it through.

The championship is the biggest in college athletics and features the best track and field student-athletes in the US, who'll be gunning for the bragging rights of being called an NCAA Champion.

In their qualifying heats, Ajayi stunned his senior compatriot Ashe to the win in an impressive 10.09s, with the latter finishing third in 10.13s but still qualified by grabbing one of the fastest non-automatic spots.

The University of Auburn speedsters will be gunning for better performances in the final, where they'll aim to claim two of the top three spots and regain the glory days of their school.

Also, Louisiana State University's standout Brume automatically qualified with a second-place finish in 10.23s behind University of South Florida's Saminu Abdul-Rasheed, who clocked 10.14s.

Despite a poor start, the Nigerian finished hard to close down the rest of the field and punch a spot for back-to-back finals.

Last year, he clocked a Personal Best (PB) of 9.90s to settle for the second position and will have his eyes set on the top finish this time.

Ajayi, Brume, and Ashe will hope they can finally make Nigerian history by doing a clean sweep for the first time at the NCAA Championships or at least have the title winner from either of them and follow in Divine Oduduru's footsteps who won it in 2019.