Kanyinsola Ajayi Wins NCAA 100m Title In Wind-Aided 9.72 At The 2026 Outdoor Championships
Auburn's Kanyinsola Ajayi breaks down his NCAA championship-winning 9.72 in the men's 100m, discussing his race execution, confidence, and what it took to emerge victorious in one of the fastest sprint finals in NCAA history.
Video Transcript
Let me open it.
oh, I'm- I got you.
Yeah.
I'll figure it out.
There you go.
Congratulations, Ajayi.
I wonder, how did you- Thank you like practice short-term memory after the 4x1 to come back through and win the 100?
You know, my coach just told me, like, "Ajayi, don't worry about the 4x1," you know.
We win some, we lose some.
Just go out there and just do what I have to do.
So, I just stick to the plan.
You finish the race, you look up, you see 9.72, man, but you see the 2.2 wind.
What's going through your head?
You know, I, I don't really care about the time.
I only care about the win, like it doesn't matter the time, just the win.
Once I crossed the line first, I was, I was happy about that.
I was like, "Damn, I got the job done," you know?
And so- You waited for Aghazi after he swim his 400.
How much pride do you feel as another fellow Nigerian Olympic- You know, I'm, I'm so proud of Aghazi because we really come, like fi- like a long way together since 2021 we've been doing this together.
So seeing, seeing him on the biggest stage really, like means a lot to me.
How's that moment having, your Auburn teammate win right before you and getting to celebrate together?
You know, it does like the Auburn s- like the Auburn, Auburn tradition.
At the end of the warm-up period- You know, like whenever we come to championship, we just dominate- Men championship 200- so that is, that is Auburn, like that is what we do, you know championship 200 report back to the mark.
Ready.
What was celebrating with Samuel for Nigeria, you guys both winning and celebrating titles tonight, how was that?
You know, it means a lot to me, and it means a lot to Nigeria, like they're proud of us, like we're proud of, like fly- flying the Nigerian flag, making all our people proud.
So I'm really happy about that.
What are your plans for the rest of the summer?
You know, just take one step at a time.
Just go back, go back to practice, practice, practice, and go to some meet, you know.
Yeah.
So SEC's obviously didn't go the way you want it to.
How did you regroup after SEC's to get here today?
you know, my, my coach don't really care about SEC.
He only care about Nationals, so he told me, "Ajayi, don't worry about that.
I know like you're trying to like save some energy for the final, but, you know, like that happens, so just focus on Nationals, focus on the bigger, on the big stage."
So I just, I just like stick to what he told me.
Do you think it was a valuable lesson to learn?
Yeah, yeah.
That was a valuable lesson to learn, you know, like so now whenever like I'm on the line, I just run to the line.
I don't, I c- I don't stop like 70 meter.
I just run to the line.
Yeah.
So yeah.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
