Tag: Samuel Ogazi

Team Nigeria’s quarter miler, Samuel Ogazi, has faulted Team Nigeria’s  technical  staff  after he was allegedly compelled to run the men’s 400m heats at the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Tokyo despite battling a hamstring injury.

Ogazi, who crowned an impressive season in the United States by winning the NCAA 400m title, was a shadow of his usual self on the track as he finished fifth in his heat with a time of 45.97 seconds, far outside his personal best.

The 20-year-old explained that he had clearly communicated his fitness concerns to the Nigerian officials before the race but was still pressured to compete.

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 “I told the Team Nigeria officials that I wasn’t prepared for this race, that my hamstring was bothering me, but they still insisted that I should go run. I did what I could and that’s the outcome,” Ogazi said in a viral video.

Ogazi revealed that he had trained comfortably on Monday and Tuesday but felt discomfort in his hamstring during Wednesday’s shake-out session. Despite alerting officials and even confiding in the team doctor during warm-up, he said he was still instructed to “give it your all.”

 “I was willing to sit out. I told them two days ago I was not prepared and I didn’t think I could do anything if I went out there. Everybody knows I don’t run with injuries. I wasn’t feeling healthy and strong. Maybe it was also because I was diagnosed with Covid two weeks ago,” he added.

Ogazi, however, chose to reflect positively on his overall season. The young sprinter, who clocked some of the fastest collegiate times in the United States earlier this year, described his 2025 campaign as “impressive and superb.”

“The main goal was to win the NCAA title and I got that done. After that, I was just going with the flow,” he concluded.

Ogazi’s comments have raised fresh questions about athlete welfare and decision-making within Team Nigeria’s camp at major championships.

Nigeria’s Samuel Ogazi has broken a 26-year-old record to win the men’s 400-meter national title at the NCAA Championships

Nigeria’s Samuel Ogazi on Friday broke a 26-year-old record to win the men’s 400-meter national title on the third day of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Ogazi became the first Nigerian athlete since 1999 to win a 400m NCAA title by emerging as the only runner in the event final to clock a sub-45 time as he finished with 44.84 seconds.

The first runner-up, William Jones of Southern Cal, finished with a time of 45.53 seconds. Jordan Pierre of Arkansas-Pine Bluff (45.75), DeSean Boyce of Texas Tech (45.78) and Joseph Taylor of Duke (45.83) rounded out the top five.

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The only other SEC runner in the top 9 was Texas A&M’s Auhmad Robinson, who finished in the seventh position.

Ogazi, who is a 2024 Paris Olympics finalist after picking up the gold medal, has now won his first-ever NCAA title, having picked up silver at the 2024 NCAA outdoor championships with a time of 44.52 in the 400-meter dash.

He had laid down a marker at the championships on Wednesday, storming to victory in his 400m semi-final with an impressive time of 44.77 seconds, the fastest across all heats.

His smooth execution, strategic pacing, and strong finish have so far made him one of the standout athletes of the NCAA Championships.

Nigeria’s  Samuel Ogazi finished in distant seventh position  as  Quincy Hall produced an incredible late surge to overhaul Briton Matthew Hudson-Smith and take a first Olympic 400 metres gold for the United States since 2008 in another scintillating race.

Hudson-Smith seemed on course to win his country’s first gold over the distance since “Chariots of Fire” Eric Liddell in the Paris Games 100 years ago, but he tied up at the end and Hall swept past to win in a personal best 43.40 seconds and give the U.S. their first triumph since LaShawn Merritt in Beijing.

Hudson-Smith bettered his own European record with 43.44 for silver and Zambia’s 21-year-old Muzala Samukonga set his second successive national record with 43.74 to take bronze.

Hall, who took bronze behind Jamaica’s Antonio Watson and Hudson-Smith at last year’s world championship, looked out of contention coming into the final straight a distant fourth as the long-striding Hudson-Smith seemed on course for a first global gold of an injury-plagued career.

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He was still well adrift heading into the last 30 metres but somehow found the energy to drive past everyone and become the fourth-fastest man over the distance, behind world record holder Wayde van Niekerk (43.03), Michael Johnson (43.18) and Butch Reynolds (43.29). Hudson-Smith is now fifth.

Fourth-placed Jereem Richards set a Trinidad and Tobago national record of 43.78 and former Olympic champion Kirani James in fifth was also under 44 seconds in 43.87.

“Sometimes the journey is better than the outcome,” said Hudson-Smith, who has world silver and bronze and now Olympic silver to his name. “My time is going to come.”

U.S. athletes have now won 19 gold, 13 silver and 11 bronze for 38 medals in the event. Britain are next with two golds and eight medals in all.