Blessing Okagbare set a new Commonwealth record of 10.85 seconds to win 100m gold

The fastest woman in Africa is now the fastest woman in the Commonwealth. Blessing Okagbare backed up a series of scintillating runs at Hampden Park to claim a stunning Commonwealth Games 100 metres title ahead of Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown and Kerron Stewart on Monday night.

Okagbare, who had gone in as the pre-race favourite, stormed away from the field at the gun and beat off a dogged effort from Campbell-Brown to prevail in a Commonwealth Games record of time of 10.85 sec, almost two-tenths of a second ahead of the Jamaicans.

The final had long been earmarked as a battle between Okagbare and the Jamaican trio of Campbell-Brown, Stewart and Schillonie Calvert.

Sandwiched between the three of them in lane five, Okagbare’s bright blonde hair seemed to be boldly taunting her rivals on the startline, acting as a beacon for them to chase. Catch me if you can.

Okagbare had already marked herself out as an inconspicuous target earlier in the evening with an utterly dominant semi-final performance.