…Says Ekanem will rule the world
Former two-time African 100m Champion and national record holder, Seun Ogunkoya, seems to have reinvented himself with up and coming sprinter Consider Ekanem.
Ogunkoya was at his best in 1998, with a personal best of 9.92sec in the 100m and 20.50seconds in the 200m. He was primed to be a world champion, but injuries cut short his career.
Since then, Ogunkoya has been inspiring young athletes quietly in his domain in Akure, Ondo State. One lad under his tutelage is Ekanem, who lately, has been on the lips of every Nigerian athletics buff since running a world leading time of 10.10seconds at Dynamics Athletics meet in Lagos, in January this year.
Before his exploit in January, Ekanem was off and on athletics, searching for his true calling before fate brought him and Ogunkoya together. He has proved to be another great athlete to watch out for in this year’s Africa Games in Ghana, and perhaps, the Olympics Games in Paris, France.
Speaking with mainlandmetronews.com, Ogunkoya revealed how he discovered speed star, who many have tagged as a ‘new Usain Bolt.
“He came to me and said, I’ve read your profile and I want to be like you. My aim is to run 9.98secs within a short period. And I am like, you will be more than me, consider yourself a world champion if only you would remain disciplined and patiently follow our laid down program.
“This is not about going to the internet to down load programme and knock yourself out with it. Ekanem has made a lot of progress from where we started in training together. Before teaming up with me, he was doing 10.90sec and 10.70sec.
“But after a period of time, he picked up and last season, he was constantly doing 10.02sec and 10.03sec. At the 2022 National Sports Festival in Asaba, Delta State, I even expected him to make an impact but he could not do much because of distractions here and there,” he stated.
According to Ogunkoya, the best is yet to come from the 19-years-old Ekanem “Running 10.10secs was not a surprise to me. I even told him that was not his time. He can do much more than that. I am sure his legs will do more of the talking in the days to come.”
