Nigeria's Record-holder in the men’s Shot put, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi sets for Olympics show in Paris 2024

Posted : 22 September 2023

For Chukwuebuka Enekwechi to compete at the highest level of sports is not a big deal, for he has at various times got himself on the frontline in world competition.

As Chukwuebuka Enekwechi looks forward to Paris 2024 Olympics belt, one thing that should be paramount in his mind is picking up from where he has left it, and prove that he is the real man for the real gong, the elusive Olympics medal in his cabinet.

Chukwuebuka Enekwechi born on Jan. 28 1993, and raised in the U.S, to Nigerian parents, Mr Christian and Christiana Enekwechi, from Anambra and Imo State, respectively, is blessed with three siblings, Chris and Chisom, and a sister, Diamond.

Chukwuebuka Enekwechi leaving in the U.S., also works as a throws coach for West Lafayette High School in the U.S while he is also regarded to as native of Queens, New York.

Chukwuebuka Cornnell Enekwechi is mostly referred to as Nigerian-American track and field athlete, who specialized in throwing events.

Enekwechi earned his bachelors degree in law and society and a minor in organizational leadership and supervision from Purdue in 2016.

He competed internationally for Nigeria at a young age, but got on a major medal win during the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where he emerged as a Silver medallist and now, he is the reigning African Champion in the shot put.

Chukwuebuka Enekwechi in 2019 emerged African Games Champion and the reigning Nigerian National Sports Festival Champion.

While competing for Purdue University in the U.S, he engaged himself in multiple throws where he threw the shot put, discus, hammer and weight.

He became the runner-up at the 2016 NCAA Championships in the shot put and sixth in the hammer at Purdue University

Enekwechi kept up with his progress when he broke a huge Personal Best of 21.77m, to stun contending favourites to win the shot put event at the 2019 IAAF World Challenge in Braganca Paulista. It became the new Nigerian record as it overtook Stephen Mozia’s throw in 2016 by one centimetre.

Enekwechi only got better as he extended his National Record to 21.80m at the Cercle Athletique Schifflange Meeting in Schifflange, a commune in Luxembourg. That throw brought him only 17cm short of the 2001 African record set by Janus Robert the South African.

Between 2014 and 2015, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi became the ``Big Ten Champion'' in the Hammer Throw and also the Field athlete of the year in 2015.

While at Francis Lewis High School, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi won two city championships, and also, he was the 2012 USA Track & Field Youth Champion in the shot put.

After his graduation from the college, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi threw over twenty metres in the shot put for the first time in 2016 and won his first national title at the 2016 Nigerian Championships in Sapele with a distance of 19.60 m.

Ambitious Enekwechi in 2016 chased after the Olympic qualification shot put mark of 20.50m but only managed a best of 20.45m that year, while his first chance came in 2017 when he first represented Nigeria internationally at the London World Championships, however, he did not make it out of the qualifying round.

Chukwuebuka Enekwechi again represented Nigeria at the 2018 World Indoor Championships.

However, 2018 was a breakthrough year for Enekwechi in Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. There he won a silver medal behind Tom Walsh with a throw of 21.14 m, setting another personal best. Enekwechi then went on to win the shot put title at the African championships in Asaba later in the year. His winning mark of 21.08 m is still the African championships record.

As African champion, he was selected to represent Africa at the Ostrava Continental Cup. While in December 2018, he won both the shot put and hammer throw at the 19th National Sports Festival in Abuja and set a national sports festival record of 20.36 to win the shot put.

In 2019, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi began his 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 World Challenge meet. He then 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.

Chukwuebuka Enekwechi represented Nigeria at the 2019 All Africa Games, while 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, Thus, this made him the third Nigerian man to win the event at the African Games.

Chukwuebuka Enekwechi represented Nigeria at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, while going into the championships, he was still ranked within the top ten in the world.

Currently, the stoutly-built Chukwuebuka Enekwechi is ranked number 8 in the world which places him in vantage position of a podium finish if he can better his 2019 gold winning record.

Enekwechi has been Nigeria and Africa's most consistent Shot Put thrower in the past five years. He has won all continental and national titles available at his disposal, throwing record-breaking times to follow them up.

However, one of the intriguing things to know is that Chukwuebuka Enekwechi's strong presence in Shot Put is an added advantage as athletes often dread to throw hard in order to avoid injury which may be a lifetime one.

As the Paris 2024 beckons, it is hoped that Chukwuebuka Enekwechi will be injury free and make a podium finish.

Nigeria's Record-holder in the men’s Shot put, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi sets for Olympics show in Paris 2024

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