By Ben Efe

Having won three different laurels in junior African and world meets, Nigeria’s sprint sensation Divine Oduduru has stated that his aspirations have gone beyond looking for medals in competitions meant for up and coming athletes.

ANTELOPE – Oduduru

Oduduru made his mark at the African youth championships in Warri, Delta State 2013. That same year he was at the IAAF world youth championships in Poland and then later in Mauritius, where he won a sprint double at the African junior championships, a feat he repeated last weekend at the 12th edition of the meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He was at the World Junior in Eugewe, USA. He won Silver in the 200m.

At Adis Ababa, Oduduru ran 10.44 seconds in the men 100m, which has Davidsion Ezinwa’s 10.05 seconds African record still standing after almost three decades. In the men’s 200m Oduduru also won the gold with 21.22, way below the African record of 20.16 held by South Africa’s Dempers Riaan since 1995. Oduduru declared that he was now focused on training hard and stepping in line with the big boys of world athletics. “This is my last and final junior competition. Even if I am still eligible for the world juniors next year,”said Oduduru who will be 19 in October. He revealed that his exploits in Addis Ababa were satisfactory even though he did not reach the mark he expected.

“For me us it was the first competition of the season. And I am happy starting it on a very good note. And I hope to improve on what I have done last year as the season progresses.” He said that his target was to meet the 10.16 seconds target set by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria for athletes wishing to win a slot in Nigeria’s team to the world championships August in Beijing. “There is nothing fantastic about the time. It depends on training, and when you get the right conditions that time is achievable.

“I want to be focused on doing well in the senior cadre where it all matters.”