Blessing Okagbare triumphed in London
Nigeria's Blessing Okagbare destroyed a stellar 100m field to set a new African record of 10.79 secs at Saturday's IAAF Diamond League in London. An hour before that new persona best time, Okagbare had earlier in the semi final dismissed the 10.90secs African record held by Glory Alozie since 1998, clocking 10.84secs.
The University of Texas in El Paso (UTEP) graduate had similarly won the London leg of the IAAF Samsung Diamond League last year. In the second heat, Jamaica's reigning Olympic champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce ran a world leading 10.77 seconds to win thereby setting the stage for a titanic battle in the final.
However, Okagbare was in her elements in the final, storming out of the blocks in bullet-like fashion to win the race and the maximum IAAF Diamond League points to take her tally to 10, two behind Fraser-Pryce who could only manage a fourth place (10.94).
