Favour Ashe sent a loud message to Nigeria’s athletics selectors on Tuesday, storming to the men’s 100m title at the 2026 Commonwealth Games National Trials in Lagos with a blistering personal best of 9.93 seconds.
The Delta State sprinter produced the standout performance on the final day of the trials at the Yaba College of Technology Sports Complex, turning a loaded sprint field into his own statement race.
Ashe had already warned the field in the semi-finals, where he clocked a wind-assisted 9.97s. He returned for the final and went faster legally, improving on the 9.94s personal best he set in the United States in 2024. World Athletics lists Ashe’s previous legal 100m personal best at 9.94s, making the Lagos run a major marker in his season.
Behind him, Adekalu Fakorede also broke through, finishing second in a personal best of 9.98s. Reigning National Sports Festival champion Chidera Ezeakor placed third in 10.03s, another personal best in a final that showed the depth of Nigerian sprinting.
For Ashe, the victory carried more than speed.
After the race, he opened up about the difficult path that brought him back to Nigeria, including visa issues that disrupted his training plans abroad. The sprinter said he had been training in Nigeria and later went to Qatar because he wanted to feel like himself again, before returning after a call from Athletics Federation of Nigeria president Tonobok Okowa.
The result now places Ashe firmly at the centre of Nigeria’s sprint conversation ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, scheduled for July 23 to August 2. Reports before the trials had already identified him as one of the headline names expected to contest the national sprint crown in Lagos.
But the selection line must remain clear: winning the national trials strengthens Ashe’s case, it does not by itself confirm the final Commonwealth Games squad.
The trials also delivered other strong performances. Veteran quarter-miler Patience Okon-George won the women’s 400m in 51.85s, while Tyler Johnson claimed the men’s 400m title in 45.75s.
Still, the headline belonged to Ashe.
A year of uncertainty.
A return home.
A legal 9.93s.
Nigeria’s sprint lane has a new warning sign before Glasgow.
