19-year-old Israel Okon’s NCAA performance, where he ran 9.99/19.94 at East Regionals to become only the fifth teenager ever to run sub-10s in the 100m and sub-20s in the 200m.
Firstly, Israel Okon cracked 10 seconds for the first time in his career under legal conditions, clocking a new Personal Best (PB) of 9.99s (0.1) to win his 100m heat at the East Regionals and qualify for the NCAA Championships in Eugene.
Jaiden Reid was 2nd in 10.05s.
The former Commonwealth Youth champion then proceeded to the 200m, running a massive personal best of 19.94s at the NCAA East Regionals in Kentucky.
This spectacular time secured his spot at the NCAA Championships in Eugene as the fastest 200m qualifier out of the East Region.
Exclusive Fastest Teenagers Club
He joins an exclusive club of talents to put the world on notice before exiting their teenage years.
- Erriyon Knighton (USA): Ran 9.99 for the 100m and holds the U20 world record of \(19.49\) for the 200m.
- Letsile Tebogo (Botswana): Holds the U20 world record in the 100m at \(9.91\) and ran \(19.50\) (and \(19.81\) at age 18).
- Trayvon Bromell (USA): Ran 9.97 in the 100m and \(19.86\) in the 200m before turning 20.
- Gout Gout (Australia): The young sensation ran a 9.99 in the 100m and set a U20 area record of 19.67 in the 200m as a teenager.
- Usain Bolt (Jamaica): Ran 9.76 and 9.93 in the 100m and 19.93 in the 200m during his teenage years.
Israel Okon’s NCAA Performance: Exclusive Nigerian Double Speedster
Israel Okon’s 9.99s & 19.94s rank top three in the best one-day 100m/200m results by a Nigerian since Divine Oduduru and Udodi Onwuzurike.
Udodi went 9.98s and 19.84s at NCAAs on the same day in 2023, while Divine Oduduru won the NCAA title with a personal best of 9.86 seconds, before setting a new 200m national record of 19.73, breaking Francis Obikwelu’s record on the same day in 2019.
