Kanyinsola Ajayi produced a fireworks display at the Meeting International in Sotteville-lès-Rouen, France, on July 7, 2025, clocking a blistering 9.92 seconds to win the men’s 100 m and obliterate a nine-year-old meet record of 10.02s .
At just 20 years old, Ajayi matched his personal best while launching out of lane five with a reaction time of 0.156s, aided by a legal +1.7 m/s tailwind. This performance shattered the record set by Trinidad and Tobago’s Keston Bledman in 2015, firmly announcing Ajayi’s arrival on the international sprinting scene .
He surged past several sub‑10‑second competitors—Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme (10.04s) and Senegal’s Mamadou Sarr (10.10s)—while top European sprinters also trailed behind . The dominant nature of the victory reaffirmed his recent strong form.
By clocking 9.92s again—after a 9.92s fourth-place showing at the NCAA Championships in Eugene last month—Ajayi now boasts two of Nigeria’s top five legal 100 m times, tying for fourth with Seun Ogunkoya and Udodi Onwuzurike, behind only Soji Fasuba (9.85s), Divine Oduduru (9.86s), and Godson Oghenebrume (9.90s) .
This performance cements Ajayi as one of the brightest sprinting talents on the global stage. Already Nigeria’s national 100 m champion (June 2024), an Olympic semi-finalist, and an anchor in the nation’s relay medal run, he now also becomes one of just three Nigerians with four sub‑10 s races—joining Davidson Ezinwa and Seun Ogunkoya .
