Nigeria, May 17 -- Nigerian athletes Samuel Ogazi and Rhoda Adisa produced historic performances at the SEC Championships in the United States, setting new national records in the men's 400m and women's 800m events, respectively.

Ogazi delivered another stunning performance in the men's 400m final, running a world-leading 43.95 seconds to successfully defend his SEC outdoor title.

The time made the 19-year-old the first Nigerian athlete to break the 44-second barrier in the event and further improved the national record he had set barely two weeks earlier.

Earlier this month, Ogazi had clocked 44.02 seconds at the Torrin Lawrence Memorial in Athens, Georgia, breaking the long-standing Nigerian record of 44.17 seconds set by Innocent Eg...