Team MTN’s Benjamin Magaji, former National Youth Games silver medallist Miracle Sonny and Season 1 & 2 MVP Adaeze Ezeh were among the standout performers as the MTN CHAMPS Benin Athletics Classics kicked off on Thursday at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium and UNIBEN Sports Complex.
It was an action-packed day across the locations as over 2,000 athletes took to the track to represent their respective schools, teams and states on Day 1 of the competition.
Several athletes set seasons and personal bests to display their readiness for the 2025 athletics season.
Magaji, who was discovered at MTN CHAMPS Jos in Season 2, clocked the overall fastest time in the senior men’s 400m heats, storming to a new lifetime best of 48.23s to lead the pack ahead of the semis and final.
He ran a tactical race and held on to his lead to cross the line in first place in his heat.
Emmanuel Baraburu (48.27s) and Emmanuel Salubi (48.53s) recorded the second and third fastest times overall across the heats.
Sonny, an MVP athlete from Season 1, posted the fastest time overall in the junior (U20) women’s 400m.
She returned to CHAMPS action, running her first race in a personal best of 54.92s to win Heat 3. Victoria Olaniyi ran a new PB of 55.62s to win Heat 2 and finish second fastest overall while Success Okoro ran the third fastest time across all heats, winning Heat 5 in a time of 55.92s.
In the junior men’s 400m, Gafar Badmus got to the line in a season’s best of 47.94s, winning Heat 6 and running the overall fastest time.
He was followed by David Akhalu who won Heat 1 in 48.22s while Eniola Shiro was the third fastest overall, winning Heat 7 in a time of 48.30s, and Team MTN’s Ezekiel Asuquo finished fourth overall with 48.92s.
Elizabeth Olumide (58.20s), Team MTN’s Chizoba Onyemauwa (59.30s) and Agape Elisha (59.63s) were the fastest qualifiers in the youth (U17) girls’ 400m while their male counterparts had Emmanuel Chukwueweniwe, Oghenetega Abednigo and Dominion Udoh as the overall fastest qualifiers into the youth boys’ semis.
Mmesoma Ezeobi posted the overall fastest time in the junior women’s 100m semis, taking the lead with her time of 11.88s, just 0.01s faster than Miracle Ezechukwu.
Other qualifiers for the final are Cynthia Chioma (11.89s), Success Oyibu (11.91s), Perezide Sigah (12.00s), Chinonso Odika (12.00s), Chigozie Nwankwo (12.09s) and Lucy Nwankwo (12.23s).
Caleb John dominated the junior men’s semis with his time of 10.59s, a season’s best, and was followed by Juliand Efejuku (10.71s) and Abdulrahman Jimoh (10.71s). Joining them in today’s final are Gift Bright (10.75s), David Osuya (10.82s), Joachim Uyovwiyoma (10.82s), Clifford Igbigbidje (10.89s) and Wilfred Awonusi (10.90s).
MTN CHAMPS Season 1 & 2 MVP, Ezeh made an impressive leap of 6.05m to win the junior women’s long jump event, with Jennifer Osemijengie (5.73m) and Franca Ajagbawa (5.59m) settling for silver and bronze respectively.
The 100m and 400m finals across all four age categories, as well as the 4x100m heats, will form some of the highlights of Day 2 of the competition holding till March 15th.
