Western Texas College student, James Dadzie, has set a new national record in the men’s 200m event with a blistering 19.79s (+1.3m/s) run at the Crofoot Shootout in Lubbock, Texas on Saturday night.
The former University of Ghana student shaved off a stunning 0.29 seconds from Joseph Amoah’s national record of 20.08 seconds set in 2019. He becomes the first Ghanaian athlete to ever run under 20 seconds in the 200m.
If the event and wind reading are ratified, Dadzie would have booked for himself a place in this year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
Earlier on the same day, Dadzie, 22, clocked an incredibly fast but windy 9.89 seconds (w +3.2) in the 100m; the fastest time run by a Ghanaian athlete under any conditions to complete the most impressive sprint double times in Ghana’s history.
A Record Run
Dadzie’s 19.79 seconds ranks him as the number 1 200m sprinter in the world as of April 29, 2023.
The time also breaks the 47-year-old National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) record set in 1976 by Millar Hampton (20.10 secs).
Additionally, Dadzie moves from number 39 on Africa’s all-time list in the 200m to number five(5), behind Frank FREDERICKS (19.68s, Aug 1996), Clarence MUNYAI (19.69s, Mar 2018), Divine ODUDURU (19.69s, Jun 2019), Isaac MAKWALA (19.77s, Jul 2017).
Dadzie has been steadily progressing since transferring from the University of Ghana to Western Texas College last year.
At the start of this season, Dadzie ran 20.24 seconds (w+1.9) in the 200m at the 2023 Ross Black Open in New Mexico, a personal best at the time.
He then followed it up with a 10.07s run in the 100m the Oliver Jackson championship, which was also a personal best.
Other Ghanaians Impress
Elsewhere on Saturday, former University of Ghana student, Grace Obour ran a season’s best time of 52.71s running for Western Texas College, where she currently goes to school with James Dadzie.
Duncan Agyemang from the Florida Academy of Art clocked 21.06s (w +2.0) in the men’s 200m before a 46.97s run in the 400m.
In the Olympic Development Men’s 400m Elite event, Martin Owusu-Antwi finished 3rd with 46.97s.