It was an action-packed day across the dual locations of the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium and the UNIBEN Sports Complex as over 2000 Athletes took to the track to represent their respective schools, teams and states on Day 1 of the MTN CHAMPS Benin Athletics Classics. Several athletes set Seasons and Personal Bests to display their readiness for the 2025 Athletics season.
Team MTN’s Benjamin Magaji clocked the overall fastest time in the Senior men’s 400m heats, storming to a new lifetime best of 48.23s to lead the pack ahead of the semis and final. Magaji, who was discovered at MTN CHAMPS Jos in Season 2, ran a tactical race and held on to his lead to cross the line in 1st place in his heat. Emmanuel Baraburu (48.27s) and Emmanuel Salubi (48.53s) recorded the second and third fastest times overall across the heats.
Former National Youth Games Silver medallist, Miracle Sonny posted the fastest time overall in the Junior (U20) women’s 400m. Sonny was an MVP athlete from Season 1 and returned to CHAMPS action, running her first race in a Personal Best (PB) of 54.92s to win Heat 3. Victoria Olaniyi ran a new PB of 55.62s to win Heat 2 and finish 2nd fastest overall while Success Okoro ran the 3rd fastest time across all heats, winning Heat 5 in a time of 55.92s.
In the Junior men’s 400m, Gafar Badmus got to the line in a Season’s Best of 47.94s, winning Heat 6 and running the overall fastest time. He was followed by David Akhalu, who won Heat 1 in 48.22s, while Eniola Shiro was the 3rd fastest overall, winning Heat 7 in a time of 48.30s, and Team MTN’s Ezekiel Asuquo finished 4th overall with 48.92s.
Elizabeth Olumide (58.20s), Team MTN’s Chizoba Onyemauwa (59.30s) and Agape Elisha (59.63s) were the fastest qualifiers in the Youth (U17) Girls’ 400m while their male counterparts had Emmanuel Chukwueweniwe, Oghenetega Abednigo and Dominion Udoh as the overall fastest qualifiers into the Youth Boys’ semis.
Mmesoma Ezeobi posted the overall fastest time in the Junior women’s 100m semis, taking the lead with her time of 11.88s, just 0.01s faster than Miracle Ezechukwu. Other qualifiers for the final are Cynthia Chioma (11.89s), Success Oyibu (11.91s), Perezide Sigah (12.00s), Chinonso Odika (12.00s), Chigozie Nwankwo (12.09s) and Lucy Nwankwo (12.23s).
Caleb John dominated the Junior men’s semis with his time of 10.59s, a Season’s Best, and was followed by Juliand Efejuku (10.71s) and Abdulrahman Jimoh (10.71s). Joining them in Friday’s final are Gift Bright (10.75s), David Osuya (10.82s), Joachim Uyovwiyoma (10.82s), Clifford Igbigbidje (10.89s) and Wilfred Awonusi (10.90s).
MTN CHAMPS Season 1 & 2 MVP, Adaeze Ezeh made an impressive leap of 6.05m to win the Junior women’s Long Jump event, with Jennifer Osemijengie (5.73m) and Franca Ajagbawa (5.59m) settling for Silver and Bronze respectively.
The 100m and 400m finals across all four age categories, as well as the 4x100m heats, will form some of the highlights of Day 2 of the competition held from March 13th to 15th.
