For the first time in 18 years since Olusoji Fasuba reached the 100m final at the World Championship, a Nigerian has made the final through Kanyinsola Ajayi after he stormed to a blistering 9.93s in the semifinal at the Tokyo 2025 World Championships, finishing 2nd to secure automatic spot in the final.
Fasuba was born in Sapele, Delta State in Nigeria, the eldest of three children. Sprinting was part of his family life as his mother, a Jamaican, was a runner in her youth and is the cousin of Don Quarrie, a 200 metres Olympic gold medalist. His parents encouraged him to run from a young age and he was so fast that secondary schools would ask him to compete for them, even though he was of primary school age.
Furthermore, he was a proficient football, volleyball or basketball player and, as a result, he managed to attend Merit Mixed Secondary School through an athletics scholarship. He dominated the school’s athletics events, winning not only the sprint events but also the high jump and long jump. Fasuba continued his studies at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife but found the work difficult. Encouraged by his mother, he decided to leave the education system in favour of athletics, his foremost passion
Fasuba had his breakthrough year in 2003, starting with the 2003 national trials. He was selected for the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics and finished fourth with the Nigerian team. Fasuba closed the year with a win in the 100 m at the inaugural Afro-Asian Games. In 2004, he went on to win at the 2004 African Championships in Athletics, and won his first major medal a few months later, an Olympic bronze medal as part of the 4 × 100 m relay team at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The following year he competed in the 100 and 200 m at the World Championships, but failed to reach either final.
In early 2006 he finished fifth at the World Indoor Championships and second at the Commonwealth Games. He then established a new African record with 9.85 seconds from the Doha Grand Prix in May, breaking Frankie Fredericks’ old record of 9.86 s from 1996, Fasuba’s run was remarkable as he is almost a foot shorter than many other sprinters, he is thought to have one of the fastest footspeed in athletics. Despite having injury problems throughout the season, Fasuba defended his regional title at the 2006 African Championships. For his 2006 achievements, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria chose him as the Nigerian Male Athlete of the Year.
He won two gold medals at the 2007 All-Africa Games, winning in the 100 m and 4 × 100 m relay. On 26 August 2007, he finished fourth in the 100 m at the 2007 World Championships with 10.07 s. Fasuba won the World Indoor Championships 60 m sprint on 8 March 2008 in a time of 6.51 s. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing he competed at the 100 m and placed second in his heat after Tyson Gay in a time of 10.29 s. He qualified for the second round in which he improved his time to 10.21 seconds. However, he was unable to qualify for the semi-finals as he finished in fourth place after Richard Thompson, Gay and Martial Mbandjock.
Fasuba was entered into the 100 m at the 2009 World Championships, but his performance was modest and he was eliminated in the second round after running 10.25 seconds. After a poor start to 2010, he was not selected to defend his 60 m title at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships as Sunday Bada of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria stated he was not in form.
Having beaten Frank Fredericks’ previous mark, Fasuba was the 100 m African record holder with 9.85 s until Akani Simbine, of South Africa, broke it with 9.84 in 2021; followed by Ferdinand Omanyala, of Kenya, lowering it to 9.77 later that year. Furthermore, this places him as the joint-twentieth fastest 100 m runner ever and the fifth-fastest runner outside of the NACAC area behind Omanyala, Marcell Jacobs, Su Bingtian, and Simbine. He also has the fourth fastest time by an African runner in the 60 metres with 6.49 s; only Leonard Myles-Mills, fellow Nigerian Deji Aliu, and Morne Nagel have run faster.
