The British teenager smashes the previous mark of 10.51 with a stunning run at Lee Valley
Divine Iheme has obliterated the world 100m best for his age group, running 10.30 (1.7) at Lee Valley (August 26).
The teenager, known as ‘Lightning’ Divine’, was already the fastest 14-year-old over 100m in the UK and had a personal best of 10.56 from the England Athletics U15 & U17 Open Championships last month.
Iheme did go quicker than that mark on three occasions – 10.46, 10.48 and 10.49 – earlier on in the year, but the trio of times were all over the legal wind limit.
With his 10.30 being wind legal, Iheme has now taken apart of the world 14 100m best of 10.51, previously held by Jamaica’s Sachin Dennis.
Iheme has also sky-rocketed up the international junior rankings and is now third on the European U18 all-time list. Only Britain’s Teddy Wilson (10.26) and France’s Jeff Erius (10.27) have gone quicker.
Divine Iheme (England Athletics/Pat Scaasi)
The 14-year-old is coached by mum Nkiruku Iheme, who is the founder of the PWD Athletic Academy – created to help kids realise their potential through athletics – in Oxfordshire.
Both of his parents – his dad is Innocent Iheme – represented Nigeria at international level, including the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
The teenager has also previously stated that he watched and studied both Usain Bolt and Allyson Felix growing up.
The Oxfordshire-based athlete told Sky Sports: “I’ve watched quite a lot of Usain Bolt’s races and Allyson Felix’s 200m, 400m and relays.
“Probably the first race I watched, was his [Bolt’s] world 200m world record, the 19.19, and I was inspired to pursue the dream.”
In that same interview Iheme, who was born in Nigeria, added that he wanted to represent Great Britain in the future “because they have helped me the most”.
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