Nigerian trio Kayinsola Ajayi, Samuel Ogazi and Chinecherem Nnamdi have been named among the 10 men’s semifinalists for the 2026 Bowerman Award, the highest individual honour in United States collegiate track and field, Boldsports reports.
Their inclusion, announced on Thursday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), caps a historic NCAA season for Nigerian athletes, coming just a day after Texas Tech high jumper Temitope Adeshina was named among the women’s semifinalists.
Ajayi, representing Auburn University, earned his place after a remarkable sprint campaign in which he claimed both the NCAA indoor 60m and outdoor 100m titles.
The Lagos-born sprinter stormed to the NCAA outdoor 100m crown in a wind-assisted 9.72s, the second-fastest all-conditions performance in NCAA history behind Obadele Thompson.
Earlier in the season, Ajayi ran a wind-legal 9.84s, breaking the Nigerian 100m record and narrowly missing Christian Coleman’s collegiate record of 9.82s.
He also equalled Coleman’s collegiate 60m record of 6.45s twice before winning the NCAA indoor title, underlining his status as one of the fastest athletes in collegiate history.
Ogazi, who competes for the University of Alabama, was recognised after one of the greatest 400m seasons in NCAA history.
The Kaduna-born quarter-miler completed a sweep of the NCAA indoor and outdoor 400m titles, breaking Michael Norman’s collegiate record with a sensational 43.38s at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
His 43.38s also shattered the Nigerian 400m record, moving him to fourth on the all-time world list and confirming his place among the fastest quarter-milers in history.
Earlier in the year, Ogazi won the NCAA indoor title in 44.57s, equalling the previous world indoor record before becoming the first collegian to run multiple sub-44-second performances outdoors.
Meanwhile, Texas A&M’s Nnamdi made the semifinal list after dominating the men’s javelin this season.
The Nigerian thrower won the NCAA title with an effort of 82.26m and earlier climbed to fourth on the all-time collegiate list after producing a national record of 84.68m at the Tom Jones Memorial. He also captured the SEC title during the season.
Adeshina’s inclusion on the women’s semifinal list means Nigeria has four athletes across the men’s and women’s Bowerman semifinal lists this year, one of the country’s strongest representations in the history of the award.
The Texas Tech high jumper enjoyed an undefeated collegiate season, sweeping the NCAA indoor and outdoor high jump titles. She cleared 1.97m indoors to defend her NCAA indoor crown and later won the outdoor title with 1.96m.
The remaining men’s semifinalists are Simeon Birnbaum of Oregon, Tah Chikomba of Kansas State, Geoffrey Kirwa of Louisville, Jaiden Reid of LSU, Colin Sahlman of Northern Arizona, Habtom Samuel of New Mexico and Ja’Kobe Tharp of Auburn.
The men’s finalists will be announced on June 30, with the winner set to be crowned in December during the USTFCCCA Convention in Grapevine, Texas.
Nigeria has enjoyed increasing prominence in The Bowerman race in recent years. Ezekiel Nathaniel became only the third Nigerian to reach the final last year, following Blessing Okagbare in 2010 and Divine Oduduru in 2019.
With Ajayi, Ogazi, Nnamdi and Adeshina all making this year’s semifinal lists, Nigeria will now be hoping for another finalist when the men’s and women’s shortlists are reduced to three.
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