Enoch Adegoke’s dream of becoming the first Nigerian man to win a 100 metres Olympic medal came to an end on Sunday as he pulled up midway into the final of the blue riband event that was won by Italian sprinter Lamont Marcell Jacobs.
Fred Kerley of the United States won the silver while Andre de Grasse of Canada took the bronze.
After Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes was disqualified for a false start, the 100m final, the last event of a drama-filled Sunday at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium, the race finally got underway with Adegoke, in lane 8, neck-to-neck with De Grasse, in lane 9, before he pulled up at the 60-metre mark.
It was a sad end to a glorious campaign for the Nigerian sprint champion who ran a lifetime best of 9.98s in the heats. He also equalled his former previous personal best of 10.00s during Tokyo 2020.
A sensational run of 9.79 from Jacobs saw him become the first Italian to ever win the men’s 100m and the most unlikely of successors to Usain Bolt as the sprint king of the Olympics.
