Nathaniel smashes own record in men’s 400m hurdles, as Amusan, Enekwechi shine

It’s all looking good for Nigeria ahead of the 2025 World Athletics Championships with one of the country’s medal prospects, Ezekiel Nathaniel, breaking his own 400m National Record at the Wanda Diamond League at the Stadion Slaski, Chorzow, Poland.
Nathaniel with his latest performance already smashed the National Record four times this year after dethroning Henry Amike (48.50secs) who held the record for 35 years before Nathaniel broke the record in 2022 and has continued to improve his time in the race.
The African 400m indoor Record Holder has broken the record multiple times since 2022, and he is now the Nigerian Record Holder in the event. He has also achieved the feat of being the first Nigerian and eighth African to run a sub-47 second 400m hurdles.
He has now run four National Records under 48secs in 2025, 47.90secs, 47.89secs and 47.86secs before his latest achievement of 47.31secs at the Diamond League where he finished second behind Norway’s Karsten Warholm, the reigning world record holder and Olympic champion, who clocked a blistering 46.28secs — the fastest time in the world this year.
Meanwhile, World record holder in Women’s 100m hurdles, Tobi Amusan, clocked 12.25secs to finish third in the women’s 100m hurdles in Silesia. America’s Masai Russell, the Olympic champion, won the race in a Diamond League record of 12.19secs, ahead of fellow American Tonea Marshall, who ran a personal best of 12.24secs.
Amusan opened her 2025 season with a modest 12.74secs in Xiamen but has improved with every outing. She ran 12.66secs in Doha, 12.53secs in Atlanta, 12.45secs in Rabat and Ostrava, and stormed to a season’s best of 12.24secs in Paris. She also clocked 12.38secs at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene before winning her fifth national title at the Nigerian Championships in Lagos with 12.57secs.
It was not only Ezekiel and Amusan who flew Nigeria’s flag in Silesia as Chukwuebuka Enekwechi threw 21.56m to place seventh in a loaded field of the men’s Shotput event.
Amusan will return to action at the Lausanne Diamond League on August 20, facing a stacked field that includes Russell, Jamaicans Ackera Nugent and Megan Tapper, former world record holder Kendra Harrison, fellow American Alaysha Johnson, Netherlands’ Nadine Visser, and Switzerland’s Dijati Kambundji.
Enekwechi and Ezekiel are also set to compete in Lausanne as they fine-tune preparations for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo next month.