EUGENE, Ore. (Reuters) – When New Zealand’s Edward Osei-Nketia clocked 10.08 seconds in the 100 metres heats at the World Athletics Championships not only did he qualify for the semi-finals but he also broke his father’s national record that had stood for 28 years.
Osei-Nketia, 21, was not even born when his father Augustine Nketia clocked 10.11 at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada. Augustine was also a former Olympian having participated in the 100m at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
“I never thought I’d achieve it in my life … it felt like a dream,” Osei-Nketia told New Zealand’s 1News.
“At first, I just reacted that I was in the semi-finals because that was my goal. But me getting that record, I was like, ‘I did it! I got the record. I finally got the record!'”
When asked if his father was upset that the record was no longer his, Osei-Nketia said he had actually taken it well.
“My dad was actually surprisingly proud. I thought that he would be heartbroken, sad and angry because he expected that record was going to be there for ever and ever,” Osei-Nketia added.
“But for his son to take it, it was good but it was bad at the same time!”
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
