Temitope Adeshina, a 25-year-old freshman at Texas Tech University, has made history by breaking the Nigerian women’s high jump national indoors record at the Corky Classic in Texas on Friday.
Adeshina cleared 1.96m on her third attempt, surpassing the previous record of 1.93m set by Doreen Amata in 2016 and the outdoor record of 1.95m also set by Amata in 2008.
She also broke the Texas Tech school record of 1.89m held by two-time NCAA champion Zarriea Willis.
Adeshina moved to the United States in 2023 to pursue her academic and athletic careers. She made her debut at the Stan Scott Memorial track meet on January 13, where she tied for first place with her teammate by clearing 1.83m.
With her new personal best, Adeshina is now the world leader in the women’s high jump for 2024, and is just one centimeter shy of the Olympic qualification standard of 1.97m.
Temitope Adeshina joins the list of Nigerians taking the NCAA by storm which includes schoolmate Rosemary Chukwuma, Godson Oghenebrume, Favour Ashe and Alaba Akintola.
With the Olympics set for Paris later this year, all eyes will be on Adeshina to continue in good form and qualify for the Olympics.
