Kenneth Ikeji

Last updated
Kenny Ikeji
Personal information
Birth nameKenneth Ikeji
NationalityGreat Britain
Born (2002-10-28) 28 October 2002 (age 22)
Sport
Sport Athletics
EventHammer
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)Hammer: 77.92m (Austin, 2023)

Kenneth Ikeji (born 28 October 2002) is a British track and field athlete who competes in the hammer throw and is the UK record holder in the Weight throw. [1]

Contents

Early life

Ikeji grew up in Dagenham. He won the 2017 English Schools title in the hammer in Birmingham. He attended Brampton Manor Academy in London. before attending Harvard University in the United States in 2021 to study computer science. [2] [3]

Career

Ikelj won the hammer throw 2023 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a 77.92m throw. [4] This placed him third on the UK’s all-time rankings, breaking his personal best numerous times during the competition. [5] [6] He also set a new facility record, and Ivy League record, with the 77.92m distance. [7] [8]

He was selected as part of the Great Britain team for the 2023 European Athletics U23 Championships held from in July 2023 in Espoo, Finland. [9] He was one of a few athletes controversially left out of the British squad for the 2023 World Championships, despite having been eligible to be selected by ranking. [10]

In February 2024, he set a new UK national record in the Weight throw, recording a distance of 24.39 whilst competing at the 2024 Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track & Field Championships. [11] The following month he won the Weight competition with 24.32m at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Boston, Massachusetts. [12] [13] In November 2024, he was named by British Athletics on the Olympic Futures Programme for 2025. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weight throw</span> Sports

Two sports have events that fall under the name of weight throw one being the track and field event and the other being the Scottish highland games events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornell Big Red</span> Intercollegiate sports teams of Cornell University

The Cornell Big Red is the informal name of the sports and other competitive teams that represent Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The university sponsors 37 varsity sports, and several intramural and club teams. Cornell participates in NCAA Division I as part of the Ivy League.

Tora Lian-Juin Harris is an American high jumper. He is a Princeton University engineer of Taiwanese and African-American descent. Harris is an Olympian, a four-time national champion and two-time bronze medalist in international competition. He represented Team USA twice in the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, three times in the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics and has served as a representative once in the IAAF Continental Cup. He spent two years as the No. 1 ranked high jumper in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">USA Indoor Track and Field Championships</span> Annual indoor track and field competition

The USA Indoor Track and Field Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. In years which feature a World Indoor Championships in Athletics, the championships serve as a way of selecting the best athletes for those competitions.

Conor McCullough is an American hammer thrower. He is a two-time medalist at the World Junior Championships. While competing for Chaminade College Preparatory School he set the US high school record at four contested hammer weights - 11 lb, 12 lb, 13.2 lb and 16 lb. He also set the record in the Indoor Weight Throw at 93' 3¼". He set his personal best 78.12 m (256 ft 3 in) using the senior implement on his final throw while winning the 2019 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English Gardner</span> American sprinter (born 1992)

English Gardner is an American track and field sprinter who specializes in the 100-meter dash. She has a personal best of 10.74 seconds, set in 2016.

Nicholas Miller is a British track and field athlete who specialises in the hammer throw. He was the gold medallist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2022 Commonwealth Games, a silver medallist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the gold medal at the 2015 European Athletics U23 Championships. He holds the British record of 80.26 m for the event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leif Arrhenius</span> Swedish-American shot putter

Leif Hilding Arrhenius is a professional American-Swedish athlete competing in the shot put and discus throw. He represented Team Sweden at two World and three European Championships. In addition, he is the 2011 U.S. Collegiate Indoor Champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DeAnna Price</span> American hammer thrower (born 1993)

DeAnna Marie Price, OLY is an American track and field athlete competing primarily in the hammer throw. Price's personal best in the hammer is 80.31 m (263 ft 5 in), the American record, set at the 2021 US Olympic trials. The throw ranked her as the #2 women's thrower in history.

Scott Neilson is a Canadian former track and field athlete who competed in the hammer throw. His personal best was 72.72 m, set in Seattle on 1 April 1978.

Samuel Harrison MattisOLY is an American Olympic track and field athlete who competes in the discus throw, and has a personal record of 68.69 meters. At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, he came in 11th. Mattis represented the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Men's discus throw in Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gwen Berry</span> American track and field athlete

Gwendolyn Denise Berry is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the hammer throw. Her mark of 77.78 m on June 8, 2018, ranks her #7 on the all-time list. She also holds the world record in the weight throw with a mark of 25.60 m set in March 2017. She is a three-time national champion in the weight throw at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. She was the gold medalist in the hammer at the 2014 Pan American Sports Festival. She is also the 2019 Pan American Games Champion.

Nwanneka Mariauchenna "Nikki" Okwelogu is a Nigerian track and field athlete who competes in the shot put and discus throw events. She was the 2016 discus gold medalist at the African Championships in Athletics. Born in the United States, she set Ivy League records in the throws while at Harvard University.

Felisha Nayomie Johnson is an American track and field athlete who specialises in the shot put. She was the 2015 national indoor champion in the weight throw. She won two NCAA collegiate titles in that event for the Indiana State Sycamores.

Rudy Winkler is an American male track and field athlete who competes in the hammer throw. He is the NACAC area record holder and American record holder with a throw of 82.71 m (271 ft 4 in) for the hammer and holds a personal best of 23.32 m for the weight throw. He was the hammer national champion in 2016 and 2020, winning the 2016. and 2020 United States Olympic Trials.

Janeah Stewart is a student-athlete on the University of Mississippi women's track and field team. The four event thrower from Illinois, was awarded All-American status her first three years of college. Janeah Stewart's winning weight throw of 23.18m/76-0.75 broke the SEC meet record that had stood since 2004 and moved her up to No. 1 in the nation this year and No. 6 in NCAA history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camryn Rogers</span> Canadian hammer thrower (born 1999)

Camryn Rogers is a Canadian athlete specializing in the hammer throw. She is the reigning Olympic and World champion in that discipline, in both cases the first Canadian woman to win that title, and only the second Canadian woman to win gold at the World Athletics Championships in any discipline. Her Olympic gold medal was the first for a Canadian woman in track and field in 96 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annette Echikunwoke</span> Nigerian-American hammer thrower (born 1996)

Annette Nneka Echikunwoke is a Nigerian-American hammer thrower who lives in Ohio, United States. She was due to represent Nigeria at the 2020 Summer Olympics, but was disqualified due to the negligence of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria. She changed allegiance and represented the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in the event, the first Olympic medal for the U.S. in the women's hammer throw event. She holds the African area record in hammer throw, with a throw of 75.49 m in Tucson in 2021.

Konstantinos “Kostas” Zaltos is a Greek track and field athlete who competes in the hammer throw.

Jalani Davis is an American track and field athlete who competes in the shot put, hammer throw and weight throw.

References

  1. "K.Ikelj". World Athletics. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  2. "Kenny Ikeji". gocrimson. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  3. Henderson, Jason (July 7, 2023). "Kenny Ikeji keen to make his mark". Athletics Weekly.
  4. Campbell, Steve (7 June 2023). "Harvard's Kenneth Ikeji Claims Men's Hammer Throw Title at NCAA Championships". World-track. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  5. "10 to watch at the UK Athletics Champs". Athletics Weekly. 3 July 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  6. Smythe, Steve (Jun 12, 2023). "Big breakthroughs for Rhasidat Adeleke and Kenneth Ikeji at NCAA Champs". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  7. "Harvard's Ikeji Claims National Title; Four Ivies Named All-Americans on Day One of NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships". Ivyleague.com. 7 June 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  8. Battaglia, Joe (7 June 2023). "Harvard's Kenneth Ikeji Wins Hammer On Final Throw At NCAA Championships". flotrack. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  9. "KEELY HODGKINSON AND JEREMIAH AZU TO CAPTAIN GB & NI AT EUROPEAN U23 CHAMPIONSHIPS". British Athletics. 12 July 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  10. Henderson, Jason (August 7, 2023). "Bradshaw, Lincoln, Payne and Purchase added to GB squad for Budapest". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  11. "Three Individual Titles Highlight The First Day of The 2024 Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track & Field Championships". gocrimson. February 24, 2024. Retrieved 7 March 2024..
  12. "KENNY IKEJI CHAMPION MEN'S WEIGHT THROW - NCAA D1 INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS 2024". DyeStat. 8 March 2024. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  13. "Pinnock leaps world lead to regain NCAA title in Boston". World Athletics. 9 March 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  14. "2024-25 OLYMPIC FUTURES PROGRAMME ATHLETES ANNOUNCED". British Athletics. 11 November 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.