Nigerian sprinter Udodi Onwuzurike is scheduled to make his Diamond League debut in Brussels, Belgium, on Friday, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
He is listed for the men’s 200m, coming off a season’s best of 20.71 seconds, which he clocked last Saturday at the Voor Mon Meet in Belgium.
It was Onwuzurike’s fastest time in the 200m since April last year when he ran 20.13s in Florida.
The 20.71s was just 0.01s shy of the World Championship automatic qualifying standard of 20.16s.
Onwuzurike will line up in a field which has America’s trio Christian Coleman, Gregory Robert and Kyree King.
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Others are Joseph Fahnbuleh of Liberia, Zimbabwe’s Charamba Makanakaishe, Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic and Belgium’s Kobe Vleminckx.
In terms of world ranking, the Nigerian is lowly ranked (170), compared to his competitors, and his season’s best is also third from behind and that currently puts him 43rd in the world this season.However, he would hope to give them a run for their money and hopes to qualify for Tokyo 2025 before August 24.
The 22-year-old turned pro two years ago after a stint at the collegiate level at Stanford.
He entered Stanford in 2021, earning school records in the 100m (9.92s) and 200m (19.76s), while also posting school bests in the 60m (6.59s) and 20 indoors (20.17s). He also won the NCAA 200m title, with a personal record time of 19.76s (+0.6) in that period.
