GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Favour Ofili blasted to a new collegiate record and set a world-leading time of 21.96 seconds (+1.3 m/s) on her way to winning the women’s 200 meters at the 2022 Tom Jones Memorial Classic in Gainesville, FL, on Friday evening (15).
Lots of records tumbled for Favour Ofili
READ MORE: How to watch the 2022 Tom Jones Memorial Classic?
Ofili, who traveled this week to the Sunshine State with a PB of 22.23, set at the World U20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, last summer, completely shattered that mark on Friday en route to setting a Nigerian national record, and moved up to No. 2 all-time on the African performance list in the event history.
Her time smashed Blessing Okagbare’s Nigerian national record which previously stood at 22.04 from 2018.
By becoming the first collegian woman to run sub-22 seconds during their collegiate season, Ofili improved the previous record of 22.02 secs, which was set by Kyra Jefferson on her way to winning the event for Florida at the 2017 NCAA DI Outdoor Championships.
Ofili’s winning time bettered the previous 2022 best of 22.12 secs, set by Olympic silver medalist Christine Mboma of Namibia, earlier this month. Mboma is the African record holder with a personal best of 21.78 secs.
LSU owns the sprint records
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The record-breaking time, which obviously is also a new LSU school best mark, now means the SEC powerhouse program owns both the women’s 100m and 200m collegiate records with former program standout Sha’Carri Richardson setting the straightway sprint mark of 10.75 seconds in 2019.
Prior to Friday’s run, the LSU women’s 200m record was held by Dawn Sowell, who race 22.04 way back in 1989.
Ofili was totally dominant at the 2022 Tom Jones Memorial Classic on Friday, after beating her closest rival by 0.85 seconds, with second place going to Kamaya Debose-Epps of North Carolina A&T in a time of 22.81.
Debose-Epps’ teammates Grace Nwokocha (22.89) and Jonah Ross (22.91) were successful at running under 23 seconds on the day when finishing third and fourth overall.
More 200m results at the 2022 Tom Jones Memorial Classic
The women’s 200m Olympic development section went to former North Carolina A&T sprinter and last year’s NCAA sprint double champion Cambrea Sturgis, who ran 22.40 (0.6 m/s) to defeat Kayla White (22.50), Jamaica’s Natalliah Whyte (22.57) and Tamari Davis (22.62).
Meanwhile, the collegiate men’s 200m was won by NCAA Indoor champion Javonte Harding who led a North Carolina A&T 1-2 finish.
Harding clocked 20.34 (0.9 m/s) to secure the win on the day over teammate Daniel Stokes (20.37), with Tarsis Orogot of Alabama running 20.39 for third place and Clemson’s Cameron Rose grabbing fourth with 20.50.
World Indoor 400m champion Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago posted 20.12 (1.5 m/s) to win the men’s 200m Olympic development race.
Great Britain’s Charlie Dobson ran a personal best of 20.19 for second place, while third place went to Tokyo Olympic 4x400m gold medalist Trevor Stewart with a time of 20.45.
The 2022 Tom Jones Memorial Classic continues on Saturday with Day Two action streaming live on SEC Network +. Live Results / Start Lists
