Nigerian sprinter Favour Ofili has made headlines once again after winning the women’s 100m final at the ATX Sprint Classic in Texas, finishing ahead of top American athletes just days after news broke of her plan to switch nationality to Turkey.
Ofili stormed to the finish line in 10.78 seconds with a wind speed of +3.1 m/s. Though the time won’t count as a personal record due to the wind, it was enough to beat American stars Gabby Thomas and Kayla White, who ran 10.95s and 10.97s respectively. Another Nigerian athlete, Rosemary Chukwuma, finished fifth in 10.98s.
Earlier in the day, Ofili had set a new personal best of 10.87 seconds during the qualification rounds.
Her strong performance comes at a time of controversy. Ofili recently revealed she is switching allegiance to Turkey, blaming the Athletics Federation of Nigeria for poor handling of athletes.
“I’m tired of being left out and ignored,” she wrote on social media after she was denied a 100m spot at the upcoming Paris Olympics.
She also accused the federation of administrative failures and said she no longer trusted the process in Nigerian athletics.
President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, Tonobok Okowa, described her decision as sad and painful. “This is disheartening. Favour has always given her best, and to lose her this way is unfortunate,” he said.
