Kanyinsola Ajayi extended his incredible run of form on Monday night, dashing to a 9.92-second finish to clinch victory in the men’s 100m at the Meeting International Sotteville-lès-Rouen in France.
The 20-year-old, bursting from lane five at Stade Jean Adret, had a reaction time of 0.156 seconds and stormed past a stacked lineup featuring five sub-10 sprinters, claiming a dominant win and smashing the event’s record.
The previous record, a 10.02-second sprint set by Trinidad and Tobago’s Keston Bledman in 2015, was finally broken by Ajayi’s fluid performance. With a tailwind of +1.7 m/s—well within the legal limit—Ajayi’s effort erased a nearly decade-old mark in emphatic style.
Veteran Cameroonian sprinter Emmanuel Eseme secured second place with a 10.04s finish, while Senegalese contender Mamadou Sarr followed closely behind in 10.10s.
Next came British speedster and European Athletics Team Championships gold medallist Eugene Amo-Dadzie and Australian star Rohan Browning, both finishing in 10.16s, with Amo-Dadzie slightly ahead by timing precision.
Canadian Jerome Blake came in sixth, clocking 10.23s, while South Africa’s Tsebo Matsoso ran 10.32s. French crowd favorite Jimmy Vicaut rounded off the lineup with a time of 10.36s.
This race marked Ajayi’s return to the track after finishing fourth at last month’s NCAA Championships in Eugene, where he had also run 9.92s—his first time reaching that milestone.
His NCAA breakthrough marked a key moment in his ascent to elite sprinting status. But this repeat performance in France not only confirmed his talent—it emphasized his reliability at the highest level.
With this time, Ajayi now ranks among the swiftest sprinters in the world this season. He’s also tied with Nigerian legends Seun Ogunkoya and Udodi Onwuzurike for fourth on the country’s all-time 100m list, trailing only Soji Fasuba (9.85s), Divine Oduduru (9.86s), and Godson Oghenebrume (9.90s).
At just 20 years old, the Auburn University sensation has now recorded two of Nigeria’s top five all-time legal sprints, placing him firmly in elite territory. He also becomes one of only three Nigerians—alongside Davidson Ezinwa and Ogunkoya—to achieve four sub-10s in his career, the second-highest total by a Nigerian.
Ajayi captured the Nigerian 100m title in June 2024 and reached the semi-finals in the event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. He also featured in the men’s 4x100m relay, gaining valuable international exposure in the process.
Earlier in June, at the African Championships in Douala, Cameroon, he narrowly missed an individual medal, finishing fourth in the 100m final. However, he bounced back to anchor Nigeria to silver in the 4x100m relay.
His indoor season was just as impressive. In March 2025, Ajayi recorded a lifetime best of 6.48s in the 60m at the NCAA Indoor Championships, followed by a 6.52s sprint to take second place in a fiercely competitive final in Virginia Beach.
