PHOTO FILE: Ezekiel Nathaniel

Ezekiel Nathaniel cemented his status as Nigeria’s brightest track prospect on Thursday when he ran a blistering 47.11 seconds in the men’s 400 metres hurdles at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, setting a new national record despite narrowly missing out on a medal.

In a dramatic final widely billed as one of the most competitive in recent years, the 22-year-old Baylor University athlete initially appeared to have won bronze after American star Rai Benjamin was disqualified for a lane infringement. But following a successful appeal, Benjamin was reinstated and went on to claim gold, pushing Nathaniel down to fourth place. Brazil’s Alison dos Santos finished second in 46.84 seconds, while Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba edged Nathaniel for bronze in 47.06 seconds.

Nathaniel’s 47.11 seconds eclipsed his previous Nigerian record of 47.31 seconds set earlier this year at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in Poland. It continues a meteoric rise that began in 2022 when, as a Baylor freshman, he smashed Henry Amike’s 35-year-old national record of 48.50 seconds with a time of 48.42 at the Big 12 Conference meet in Texas.

He has lowered that mark several times since. In June 2025 he stormed to victory at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, with 47.49 seconds — becoming the third fastest man in NCAA history in the event — and earlier in the season became the first athlete ever to run under 48 seconds in an NCAA semifinal, clocking 47.86.

Athletics experts say his Tokyo performance signals that Nigeria now has a genuine world-class contender in the hurdles. While his fourth-place finish was heartbreaking, they argue, it underlines the nation’s growing potential in global track and field.