Chukwuebuka Cornnell Enekwechi (born 28 January 1993) is a

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete, specializing in throwing events. Born in the United States, he competes internationally for Nigeria. He is the 2018

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

Silver medalist and reigning African Champion in the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

. He is also the 2019

African Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa and the ...

Champion and the reigning Nigerian National Sports Festival Champion.

Personal

His parents, Christian and Christiana Enekwechi, are Nigerians from

Anambra Anambra () is a state in Nigeria. It is located in the South-eastern region of the country. The state was created on 27 August 1991. Anambra state is bounded by Delta State to the west, Imo State and Rivers State to the south, Enugu State to ...

and Imo State, respectively. He has three siblings. His brother, Chukwusom is a professional wrestler, currently signed to the

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

performing on the NXT brand with the ring name Tyriek Igwe. Enekwechi also works as a throws coach for West Lafayette High School.

Career

While competing for

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

, he threw the

, discus,

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

and

weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is a quantity associated with the gravitational force exerted on the object by other objects in its environment, although there is some variation and debate as to the exact definition. Some sta ...

. He was runner-up at the 2016 NCAA Championships in the shot put and sixth in the hammer that same day. He was the 2014 and 2015 Big Ten Champion in the Hammer Throw and also the Field athlete of the year in 2015. While at

Francis Lewis High School Francis Lewis High School (FLHS) is a selective public high school located in Fresh Meadows, in the New York City borough of Queens. It is one of the most-applied-to public high schools in New York City with 9,468 applicants in 2016. Operated b ...

, he won two city championships, and was the 2012

USA Track & Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and 1 ...

Youth Champion in the shot put.

Post Collegiate

Enekwechi threw over twenty metres in the shot put for the first time in 2016. He won his first national title at the 2016 Nigerian Championships in

Sapele ''Entandrophragma cylindricum'' is a tree of the genus ''Entandrophragma'' of the family ''Meliaceae''. It is commonly known as sapele or sapelli ( ) or sapele mahogany, as well as aboudikro, assi, and muyovu. Origin of the name The name ''sape ...

with a distance of 19.60 m. He chased after the Olympic qualification shot put mark of 20.50 m but only managed a best of 20.45 that year. It was in 2017 that he first represented Nigeria internationally. At the London World Championships, he did not make it out of the qualifying round. He also represented Nigeria at the 2018 World Indoor Championships. 2018 was a breakthrough year for Enekwechi. At the

Gold Coast Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

, he won a silver medal behind Tom Walsh with a throw of 21.14 m. At the time, this was a personal best for him. Enekwechi then went on to win the shot put title at the

African championships An African Championship is a top level international sports competition between Africa, African athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports club, sports clubs. List of championships ;Athletics * African ...

Asaba Asaba (''Igbo:'' ''Ahaba'') is the capital of Delta State, Nigeria. A rapidly growing urban area, it is located on the western bank of the Niger River and is the seat of the Oshimili South Local Government Area. Asaba had a population of 149,6 ...

later in the year. His winning mark of 21.08 m is the African championships record. As the African champion, he was selected to represent Africa at the Ostrava Continental Cup. In December 2018, he won both the shot put and

hammer throw The hammer throw (HT for short) is one of the four throwing events in regular outdoor track-and-field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and Javelin throw, javelin. The hammer used in this sport is not like any of the tools a ...

at the 19th National Sports Festival in

Abuja Abuja (; , ) is the capital city of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, strategically situated at the geographic midpoint of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As the seat of the Federal G ...

. He set a national sports festival record of 20.36 to win the shot put. He began his 2019 outdoor season with a shot put personal best of 21.28 m at the Taylor George Glass Invitational. This mark remained one of the top ten throws in the world until he bettered it at the

Grande Premio Brasil Caixa de Atletismo Grande means "large" or "great" in many of the Romance languages. It may also refer to: Places *Grande, Germany, a municipality in Germany *Grande Communications, a telecommunications firm based in Texas *Grande-Rivière (disambiguation) *Arroio ...

World Challenge meet. He set a new Nigerian National record of 21.77 m to win the event. This record bettered the previous record held by Stephen Mozia which was 21.76 m. Enekwechi represented Nigeria at the 2019 All Africa Games. Going into the competition, he had bettered his national record with a throw of 21.80 m a little over a week before the games. Showing impressive consistency, he won the event with a 21.48 m throw, which is also an African Games record. This made him the third Nigerian man to win the event at the African Games. He represented Nigeria at the 2019 World Championships in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

. Going into the championships, he was still ranked within the top ten in the world.

National Titles

Shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

: 2016

Personal bests

Outdoor *

– 22.10 (

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...

2025) Indoor * Shot put – 21.20 (

Iowa City Iowa City is the largest city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. At the time of the 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's fifth-most populous city. The Iowa City metropolitan area, which enc ...

2023)

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Enekwechi, Chukwuebuka 1993 births Living people Nigerian male shot putters Nigerian male discus throwers American male shot putters American male discus throwers Male weight throwers Track and field athletes from Queens, New York World Athletics Championships athletes for Nigeria Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Nigeria Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 African Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2023 African Games African Games gold medalists for Nigeria African Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) African Games athletes for Nigeria African Championships in Athletics winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Nigeria Purdue Boilermakers men's track and field athletes Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics