Meet Nigeria’s ‘Star Girl’ Favour Ofili who's just getting started but already breaking sprint records: “I just want to keep my head down”

This is an exciting moment for African sprinting, with the rise of some young and promising athletics stars.

It is still early in the outdoor season, but the fastest times in the world for 2022 in both the men's 100m and women’s 200m are currently held by Africans.

Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala holds the men's 100m world lead of 9.85, seconds while Christine Mboma from Namibia tops the women’s 200m list this season with a 21.87.

Before Mboma, another African teen was off to a flying start - Favour Ofili.

The three-time world U20 medallist broke the U.S. collegiate record in the 200m on 15 April, running to a 21.96, a Nigerian record. That was also the fastest this year.

“When I ran and I saw the time, 21.96, I was like ‘Oh, okay’,” she said in an interview with Louisiana State University.

“It was an expectation that was meant to happen because of hard work. If it (21.96) came now, that means there are still more things that are coming for me when it comes to the 200m.”

Last Saturday (May 14), she won the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at the Southeastern Conference, SEC, Championships following in the footsteps of LSU alumni Sha’Carri Richardson who also won the three events in 2019.

The making of a star: From Port Harcourt to the world

The 19-year-old, who made her international debut just four years ago at the Africa U18 and U20 championships, has made great strides in her races.

Ofili went on to win the 200m and 400m at the junior continental event and was also named the most outstanding female athlete.

Even more impressive was her topping the 200m at the 2018 Nigerian Championships - a country that has produced some of the continent’s outstanding sprinters - and finishing second in the 400m.

She ended the year as an African Youth 400m champion and was one of Nigeria’s leading lights at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

The native of Port Harcourt, a city in Nigeria’s oil-rich River state, qualified for the 2019 African Games where she made a statement. She helped Nigeria clinch the 4×400m relay title at the Games in Rabat and was second in the 400m behind Botswana’s Galefele Moroko.

Ofili's career steadily rose after the two continental events.

The 16-year-old was the youngest athlete at the 2019 world championships in Doha where she competed in the 400 meters and 4×400 relay.

“I was even surprised when I got (selected for) the team for the event,” she told Athletics Africa.

“I never care whether I am the youngest at a competition even at the biggest one, because my coach is always with me.

“He always advises me to have fun and enjoy, not just my run, but also everything around. To see and to meet legends and big champions is a great experience for me,” added the youngster who was delighted to meet one of her track idols Shaunae Miller-Uibo at her first world championships.

Young Favour didn’t advance beyond the semi-finals in Doha, but her athletic ability was not in doubt.

Ofili earned a scholarship at the Louisiana State University in the U.S., and that’s where she's made a name for herself.

Ofili finds favour in Lousiana

In her first year in college, she had a long and prosperous 2021.

Ofili was third in the 200m at the SEC Indoor Championships. During the outdoor season, she earned her first career SEC title as part of the 4x100m relay team, followed it up with a win in the 200m, and then ran her fastest ever 400m of 51.49 in second at the LSU Alumni Gold.

She was gearing up for a return to the Olympics track at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021, but that dream went up in smoke after some of Team Nigeria's track and field athletes were disqualified from the Games. Nigeria athletics officials had failed to meet the minimum testing requirements in the months leading up to the Olympics.

Devastated, the rising African star embraced the chance to redeem herself at the World U20 Championships in Kenya in August.

She made the podium of each of her three events - clinching two bronze medals in the 200m and 4x100m relay and anchored the team to gold in the 4x400m.

“The World U20 Championships was a miracle competition for me,” she recounted her experience in a chat with World Athletics.

But what made the run even more impressive was her 200m bronze medal-winning time of 22.23, behind the speedy Namibian training partners of Mboma, the Olympic silver medallist who took the U20 title, and silver medallist Beatrice Masilingi, was the third-fastest ever by a U20 runner in the world.

“Going into the competition, I was not physically or mentally okay because of what happened with my place on the Olympic team. I went to Nairobi to have fun and, to my greatest surprise, it turned out to be great. I learned a lot from that competition, and it helped change my mindset.”

If 2021 was one of the best seasons for Ofili, 2022 has been a stellar year.

She opened her season dashing to an African indoor record of 22.71 at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic.

She affirmed her position as the’ Star Girl’ of the next generation of Nigerian athletics with a record-breaking world-leading run of 21.96 in April, which was also a collegiate record and the fastest ever 200m by a Nigerian. The career-best 21.96 surpassed Blessing Okagbare’s 14-year record and meant Ofili became the first female NCAA athlete to run sub 22 over 200m in a collegiate season.

Her personal best was also an African record which Mboma bettered in late April to 21.78.

Ofili: "I don’t see myself as ‘the next’ anyone"

All that is just in one of her favourite events.

The young Nigerian phenom’s 100m makes her favourite for double sprints gold at the upcoming African Championships in June in Mauritius.

Ofili dashed to two sub-11 seconds in one week - a wind-aided 10.90 and a personal best of 10.93, which moved her to third on the all-time Nigerian list, making her the eighth-fastest performer in collegiate history.

“I had always believed that with God everything thing is possible and that I will be great in track and break records,” she told LSU of her personal bests in the two sprint events that make her one of only five athletes to have top 10 ranked finishes in the 100 and 200m in collegiate history

“But I knew that everything was going to start falling into place when I decided to come to the States. I knew that was the starting point.”

The versatile sprinter is far from finished. She is still just scratching the surface of her prime.

Ofili was unbeaten at the just concluded SEC championships.

Within two hours on Saturday 14 May, she helped LSU win their sixth straight conference title in the 4x100m relay, then equalled her career-best of 10.93 by winning the 100m then rounded off her performance with a comfortable 22.04 victory which bettered her 200m meet record from Thursday of 22.21.

“I am trying to keep my head down and not allow whatever is happening online to get to my head. I don’t see myself as ‘the next’ anyone; I see myself as me, Favour Chukwuka Ofili, who is coming up with the grace of God in my life. It’s another motivation for me,” she said.

“As I get deeper into this track and field career of mine, I just want to keep my head down, focus on my studies which brought me here to the States and stay healthy,” she says. “If you are healthy, you can really do anything.”

Life is good now, but the best is yet to come for the young Nigerian headliner who will only turn 20 in December.

She's tipped to be an automatic pick as Nigeria looks to July's World Championships 2022, and Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.