Ezekiel Nathaniel (born 20 June 2003) is a Nigerian sprinter and 400 metres

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

. In 2025, he set an African indoor record over 400 metres. He won the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships over 400 metres hurdles.

Career

Nathaniel studies at

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

in Texas. In May 2022, during his freshman year, he ran the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic Sport of athletics, athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a ...

in a personal best time of 48.42, winning the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

title and breaking the Nigerian record set by Henry Amike in 1987. Subsequently at the

2022 World Athletics Championships The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the ...

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

, he ran his first-round heat in 49.64, qualifying for the semi finals. In Budapest, competing at the

2023 World Athletics Championships The 2023 World Athletics Championships (), the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, were held from 19 to 27 August 2023 at the National Athletics Centre (Budapest), National Athletics Centre, in Budapest, Hungary. The tourna ...

in August 2023, he reached the

semi finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. He competed at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in August 2024, in the 400 metres hurdles, reaching the semi-finals. He also competed in the men's relay at the Games. He won the men’s

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

in an African indoor record of 44.74 to move to eighth on the world indoor all-time list at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships in Texas on 1 March 2025. He set a meet record of 47.89 seconds to win the 400 metres hurdles at the Big 12 Conference finals in May 2025 to win the title for the second consecutive year. In June 2025, he also won the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships 400 metres title in Eugene, Oregon in a time of 47.49 seconds ahead of Ja'Qualon Scott. He was named men's track athlete of the year at the 2025 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field National Awards.

References

External links

Ezekiel Nathaniel
at

Baylor Bears track and field The Baylor Bears track and field program represents the Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the R ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathaniel, Ezekiel 2003 births Living people Nigerian male hurdlers World Athletics Championships athletes for Nigeria Baylor Bears men's track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games athletes for Nigeria Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Nigeria 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen