Nathaniel Ezekiel made a stunning season debut at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational, storming to victory in the men’s 400m with a meet and facility record of 45.56s.
The time was just 0.02s off his personal best which he set a year ago, signaling his strong form early in the 2025 indoor season.
The meeting and facility record run is currently the second-fastest time in the world this year, behind only Christopher Morales-Williams’ 45.27s from last week.
Ezekiel’s time also establishes him as Nigeria’s fastest 400m runner in 2025, surpassing Edidiong Udo’s 45.61s, which was recorded just a day earlier in Lubbock, Texas.
More Read
Beyond his seasonal dominance, Ezekiel’s 45.56s is the second-fastest indoor 400m ever by a Nigerian, just 0.02s shy of his personal best (45.54s) from last year. He remains second on Nigeria and Africa’s all-time list, behind only the late Sunday Bada (45.51s).
His victory was part of a strong performance by Baylor’s track and field team on the final day of the DeLoss Dodds Invitational.
Teammate Dillon Bedell followed with a season-best 47.18s to finish second, while Demar Francis placed fourth and Abbas Ali set a new personal best of 47.37s.
Ezekiel holds the national record in the men’s 400m hurdles and qualified for the semi-final of the event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
© Bold Sports Media. All rights reserved. If sharing, kindly credit Bold Sports as the source and include a link to the original post. Unauthorised use is prohibited.
