Following his second-place finish in the Men’s 100m semi-final at the 2023 African Games on March 18, 2024, Ghanaian sprinter Benjamin Azamati attributed his performance to the weather conditions in Ghana.
In a post-race interview, the US-based athlete explained that he had only arrived in Ghana a week before the event and needed more time to acclimate to the local climate.
Azamati expressed that the short timeframe affected his preparation and left him feeling fatigued during warm-ups. Despite these challenges, he remained focused on qualifying for the final and aimed to put his best effort forward.
“Having been there since only on Monday, at least I needed about two weeks to get used to the weather out here. So I think that was the problem. I got really tired when I was warming up, so I decided to just run the heat and just qualify.”
Azamati admitted that he did not have a ‘perfect race’ because he got his execution wrong.
“Not the perfect race for me. I feel like I didn’t execute well, but I will go sit with my coach and talk about it. I had a little bit of a tight hip flexor. I think I’ll go back and see the physio to work on that and see how we can do tomorrow.”
Benjamin Azamati secured a spot in the 100m final after clinching second place in the semi-finals with a time of 10.41s. He trailed behind Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme, who crossed the finish line first with a time of 10.23s.
The final is set to take place today, March 19, 2024, at the University of Ghana Sports Stadium, kicking off at 18:30 GMT.