OREGON — Joseph Fahnbulleh pulled off a big upset on his way to win the men’s 100m final at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships here at Hayward Field, while overwhelming favorite Micah Williams faded badly to a disappointing seventh place on Friday evening (10).
Fahnbulleh was again poor from the starting blocks, although his start was much better than the one he got in the semi-finals on Wednesday night. He was able to make up the deficit quickly as he chased down the early leaders to stop the clock at 10.00 seconds to set a new personal best.
The Olympic finalist in Tokyo last summer returned less than an hour later to complete the double with another personal best of 19.83 seconds to defend his 200m title.
In the 100m, managed to pull close to pack close to the half way mark and then powered away from them. Read More: Day 3 order of events: 2022 NCAA outdoor championships
His start didn’t matter in the 200m and the Gator star took control inside the opening 80m before streaking away from the chasing pack to win comfortably.
“My coach always says go forward and if you’re with them at 30m then you want to leave. So, if I am even I am gone,” Fahnbulleh told ESPN in his post-race interview after winning the 100m crown.
“I just did my race plan,” he added about his performance.
Favour Ashe of Tennessee clocked 10.08 to secure the silver medal in the 100m with North Carolina A&T’s Javonte Harding also recording the same time for the bronze medal.
Meanwhile, collegiate leader and the joint-second fastest man in the world this year, Micah Williams of Oregon finished a disappointing 7th place in 10.19 seconds, while Matthew Boling was just ahead of him in sixth place with a time of 10.18.
Da’Marcus Fleming of LSU ran 10.20 and Houston’s Shaun Maswanganyi clocked 10.26 to complete the list of finishers.
Boling returned to take second place in the 200m with a time of 20.13 seconds, holding off Stanford freshman Udodi Onwuzurike, who ran 20.15 secs for the bronze.
