Favour Ofili Finishes Sixth Across 200 Meters in Her Olympic-Final Debut

PARIS, France – Day six of track & field saw Favour Ofili make her first appearance on the Olympic stage in a final at the Stade de France in Saint Denis.

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Her first Olympic final appearance on Tuesday made her the first Nigerian woman to make the 200m closer since the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Tuesday also marked a milestone in the years of Favour Ofili battling for her Olympic hopes on the track and with the athletics’ leaders in Nigeria that had failed her since before she even arrived at LSU.

Ofili did not disappoint the crowd in Paris in the semifinals yesterday as she clocked a season-best time of 22.05 seconds (0.0 m/s), the third fastest time overall on the day and earning her a difficult spot in the final at lane nine.

On Tuesday she got out fast in the final that included a reaction time out of the blocks of .144 seconds, which was the third fastest of all eight sprinters. She fought hard on the curve and made up ground near the finish line to take sixth-place overall. Her lean at the end almost came in clutch, as the difference between bronze and sixth was only .04 seconds. The official time for Ofili came in at 22.24 seconds. The USA’s Gabby Thomas came in first with an easy win and her time of 21.83 seconds.

Ella Onojuvwevwo was the first Tiger to get to work on Tuesday, taking on the repechage round of the 400 meter after just missing a q for the semifinals on Monday.

Her second chance at life in the repechage was stellar as she clocked a time of 50.59 seconds in the first heat to earn an auto-qualifying spot to the semifinals. The time of 50.59 was just .02 seconds off of her personal-best time of 50.57 that she set at the SEC Outdoor Championships this season. She will take up the 400m semifinals at 1:45 p.m. CT tomorrow afternoon.

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