World Championships: Nathaniel sets new Nigerian hurdles record

Nigeria’s rising 400m hurdles star Ezekiel Nathaniel has rewritten his country’s record books again, running a scorching 47.11 seconds in the Tokyo 2025 World Championships final — a national record — but narrowly missing out on a medal as he placed fourth.

The race saw American Rai Benjamin originally disqualified for a lane infringement, briefly putting Nathaniel in bronze position, but after a successful appeal Benjamin was reinstated and took gold.

Brazil’s Alison dos Santos claimed silver in 46.84 seconds, while Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba clinched bronze at 47.06 seconds. Though just outside the podium, Nathaniel’s performance was widely praised as a breakthrough for Nigerian athletics.

Despite finishing fourth, Nathaniel has added one more feather to his cap. According to records, his 47.11-second run is now the fastest ever by a Nigerian in the event, improving upon his previous national record of 47.31 seconds set earlier in 2025 at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in Poland.

Nathaniel, born in 2003, competes for Baylor University in Texas. Early in his international career, as a freshman in 2022, he broke a decades-old Nigerian record set by Henry Amike (1987) when he ran 48.42 seconds at the Big 12 Conference meet in Lubbock, Texas.

Since then, his progress has been rapid. In June 2025, at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, Nathaniel won the 400m hurdles title in 47.49 seconds, breaking his own record yet again and marking the third fastest time in NCAA history in the event.

Additionally, in the 2025 NCAA semifinals he became the first man in NCAA history to run a sub-48-second time in the 400m hurdles semifinal, clocking 47.86 seconds.