By Ben Efe

Nigeria’s number one shot putter, Stephen Mozia is muscling his way to world recognition as he heaved 21.03m to set a new national record and also set the pace for the 2016 season. Mozia, a student of Cornell University in New York, USA raked in the performance at the Commodore invitational held in Nashville Tennessee at the weekend.

The throw, which erased his previous national record of 20.46m is an improvement that could launch the athlete into the final of  the Rio 2016 Olympics Games and a potential gold at the African Champion-ships in Cape Town, South Africa.

The African record of 21.97m is held by South Africa’s Janus Robberts since 2001. While the world record is 23.12m held by Randy Barnes of the USA since 1990. However, Mozia’s throw coming early in the season is an indication that he could make more improve-ments.