17-year-old Nigerian, Abiola Ogunbanwo, on Wednesday, 28 July 2021 broke the time record for women’s 100m freestyle event at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, by winning Heat 1 in 59.74s.
Abiola has now set a new standard on Wednesday by beating Ngozi Monu’s longstanding Nigerian record of 1:00.50, which stood and served as the benchmark since 2007.
Competing in the very first heat of the women’s 100m freestyle event, Abiola finished ahead of Andela Antunovic of Montenegro (1:00.01), Nepal’s Gaurika Singh (1:00.11), and Mineri Gomez of Guam (1:04.00).
However, with her time ending up being the 50th best time in the event, it was not enough to secure the teenager a spot in the semi-finals, as the time returned by competitors is all that matters in the heats. Only the fastest 16 swimmers get to advance to the semi-finals.
Although Abiola couldn’t make it to the semi finals, she can boast of adding the 100m national record to the 400m freestyle and 200m breaststroke records she currently holds. And she looks likely to go even faster in the nearest future.
