Usheoritse "Dushos" Itsekiri, who represented Nigeria in the 100-metre dash at last summer's Olympic Games in Japan, will pursue a Master of Engineering degree at the University of Regina and has joined the U of R's track & field team.
Itsekiri started training with the Cougars this week and will compete in his first meet with the U of R this weekend in Edmonton. He's entered in the 60-metre dash, which has its heats scheduled for Friday at 4:20 PM and the final on Saturday at 2:15 PM.
"We are all looking forward to having Dushos on the team," Cougars track & field head coach
Wade Huber said. "He has competed at the highest level in our sport and it's incredibly exciting that he'll bring all of that experience to our program."
Itsekiri boasts a personal best of 10.02 seconds in the 100-metre dash, which not only earned him a bronze medal at the 2019 African Games in Morocco but also locked up his spot at the Tokyo Olympics by hitting the time standard of 10.05 seconds.
At the Olympics, he was one of just 24 athletes to qualify for the semifinals out of the 83 that entered the event. He was third in his heat in Round 1, then finished seventh in a semifinal which also included Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse.
Itsekiri also has a personal best of 20.53 seconds in the 200-metre dash. He'll be competing in the 60-metre dash for the first time in his career as this weekend's Golden Bear Open will be his first indoor meet.
The meet will be broadcast for free at
canadawest.tv with live results also available through
reginacougars.com.
