Unarguably one of Nigeria’s best athletes in 2024, Favour Ofili is already making a strong case to finish 2025 as the country’s standout track and field star. Her performances so far have been nothing short of spectacular.

At the 2025 Adidas Atlanta City Games held on Saturday, May 17, Ofili stunned the world with a historic run, breaking the world record in the women’s 150m. She clocked a blistering 15.85 seconds on the streets of Piedmont Park in Atlanta,  a feat that shook the athletics world and rewrote its record books.

Ofili’s performance came under intense pressure from American Tamari Davis, who finished second in 16.14 seconds. In doing so, the Nigerian shattered a seven-year-old record previously held by Bahamian Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo.

The 22-year-old Port Harcourt-born sprinter has now become only the second Nigerian athlete in history to set an athletics world record, following in the footsteps of 2022 World Champion, Tobi Amusan.

This sort of momentum has been on Ofili’s side since the turn of the year. On May 4, she ran an impressive 10.94 seconds in her 100m debut at the newly launched Grand Slam Track in Miami, finishing third behind Olympic bronze medalist Melissa Jefferson-Wooden.

This came after her strong showing in April at the Tom Jones Invitational in Gainesville, Florida, where she clocked 22.34 seconds in the 200m, finishing second behind Olympic champion Julien Alfred. That performance secured her qualification for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, which begin in August.

On April 26, Ofili also grabbed headlines at the 2025 LSU Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge, winning the women’s 100m with a time of 10.99 seconds (+0.4 m/s wind). That made her only the second woman globally in 2025 to run sub-11 seconds in the 100m, following Anavia Battle’s 10.98s earlier in the season.

It’s shaping up to be a redemption year for Ofili after a mixed Olympic debut in Paris last year. She missed the 100m event due to an administrative blunder but made history by becoming the first Nigerian in 28 years to reach the 200m final. She narrowly missed a podium finish, placing sixth with 22.24 seconds, just 0.41 seconds behind the gold medalist, Gabrielle Thomas of the United States.