Kayinsola Ajayi ended his 2026 Wanda Diamond League season with a bronze medal, recording 9.97 seconds in the men’s 100m final in Brussels, Belgium.
Jamaica’s reigning world champion Oblique Seville secured victory in 9.90 seconds, while Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme crossed the line second in 9.93. Ajayi followed them in third.
The podium finish added to a season that has seen Ajayi establish himself as one of the leading 100m runners in the world.
His time was 0.07 seconds slower than Seville’s winning mark and 0.04 behind Eseme, but it was still Ajayi’s fifth sub-10-second performance in 2026.
In Brussels, the 21-year-old also became the first Nigerian athlete to compete in a Diamond League Final, creating another landmark moment in an outstanding year.
Ajayi arrived at the final holding a season and personal best of 9.84 seconds, a time he had produced on three occasions during the campaign. The Diamond League records those performances as coming in Lexington on May 29, Eugene on July 4 and London on July 18.
The Brussels medal brought the sprinter’s impressive Diamond League campaign to a close.
His breakthrough run in the series came in Eugene, where he won the men’s 100m in 9.84 seconds with a legal +0.1m/s wind, finishing ahead of Seville.
Ajayi claimed another victory in London on July 18. He again posted 9.84 seconds, this time against a -0.7m/s headwind, with Seville taking second in 9.87 seconds.
He later placed fourth at the Silesia Diamond League meeting in Poland, running 9.94 seconds in a race aided by a +1.4m/s wind and regarded as one of the quickest 100m contests ever staged.
The Silesia race made history as every one of the nine finalists broke the 10-second barrier. Ajayi finished behind Seville, who ran 9.83, Kenneth Bednarek on 9.87 and Christian Coleman in 9.93.
Ajayi’s ability to remain among the leading competitors throughout the season has been one of its clearest hallmarks.
