Divine Oduduru dazzled the track-and-field world last week when he ran a blistering 9.86 seconds in the 100 meter dash at the NCAA Championships.
With that speedy time he became the second fastest African ever, only .01 seconds behind fellow Nigerian Olusoji Fasuba.
Oduduru, who attends Texas Tech University, was duly rewarded for his blazing speed and was named Co-Men's Track Athlete of the Year by the US Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association.
Divine Oduduru is surreal.
9.86s! What!!!
Man moved from being a meme to a Champion.
We shouldn't be mad when this guy chooses to rep America in any international competition, they gave him the platform, opportunity, and enabling environment.
— Wale Adetona (@iSlimfit) June 8, 2019
After winning his race last week, the 22-year-old said he would be leaving school after his junior year to go professional.
"It's a tough one," Oduduru told OkayAfrica about his decision to leave school.
"This is my family. This has been my home. And you deciding to leave your home and go see the world, it's a difficult one, but sometimes it's the choice you have to make. I talked about it and we have a discussion with the coaches and everything, and they were like, 'It's time for you to go.' "
Oduduru dominated the Big 12 Outdoor Championships in May and was the first person ever from his conference to win the award.
In an April tournament, he astounded onlookers by finishing the 100 meter race in 9.94 seconds and 200 meter race in 19.76 seconds. These times that put him on par with Usain Bolt and Michael Johnson.
Both were the fastest times run this year. He ran the 200 meter race under an hour after the 100 meter dash.
After running another sub 10 second 100 meter race last month, he qualified for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
RT @AustinYugo: "It's all about execution and going through the process. The weather is perfect, like the weather back home in Nigeria" – Divine Oduduru. So happy for this guy. pic.twitter.com/2h9oZrJfaD
— viewspur (@viewspur) June 8, 2019
"Oduduru, a junior from Delta State, Nigeria, made quick work of the short sprints this year, especially at the NCAA DI Outdoor Championships this past weekend in Austin, Texas," the US Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association said in a statement.
"Oduduru went sub-10 and sub-20 on the same day on three different occasions in 2019. Oduduru was also a member of Texas Tech’s 4×100 relay team that consistently lowered the school record throughout the latter part of the season."
