Abdul Jabar Adama has won Nigeria’s first ever medal at the ongoing World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in Romania.
Nigeria’s Abdul Jabar Adama made history on the penultimate night of the World Junior Championships, becoming the first swimmer from his nation, male or female, to win a medal at a World Aquatics meet.
Adama hit the wall in 23.64, exactly one tenth behind gold medalist Dean Fearn of Team Great Britain, with Czechia’s Jan Foltyn securing the bronze one one-hundredth behind Adama in 23.65.
Adama broke his national record in this event twice earlier in the competition. He lowered his mark to 23.61 in the preliminaries on Friday morning before clocking 23.48 to rank second after the semifinals. Prior to the competition, Adama’s national record stood at 23.81, set at the British Swimming Championships in March.
A product of Mount Kelly Swimming in the United Kingdom, Adama has been a steadily rising threat for his country. With this race set to debut at the Olympics following World Aquatics’ approval in April, three more years of development could put him in contention for a spot in the final.
The country of Nigeria has only ever won 27 medals across all disciplines at the Olympic Games and has never had a swimmer win a medal at the Olympics.
Though a World Junior Championships medal for Adama might not necessarily signify that he’s a threat on the senior level yet, he only just turned 17 years old. This sets him up for a strong Olympic quad. His semifinal time of 23.48 would’ve been only .2 off of qualifying for the semifinals at Worlds and falls just a tenth shy of the World Aquatics “A” cut of 23.36.
Prior to the event’s final, Adama broke his Nigerian record of 23.81s twice, clocking 23.61s in the preliminary round, before posting 23.48s to qualify for the final.
A product of Mount Kelly Swimming Centre in the United Kingdom, Adama recently won two gold medals at the 16th Africa Junior Swimming Championships in Cairo, Egypt, held between April and May.