The growing list of Nigerians making history in the diaspora has again appreciated as Nigeria and Africa’s first female skeleton athlete, Simidele Adeagbo has added to her list of groundbreaking achievements.
The Nigerian-Canadian skeleton racer who is also recognized as the first black female Olympian in the sport has won the Europe Cup mono bob race at the 2021/22 Bobsled World Cup.
It is important to state that Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh.
The history maker, Adeagbo is now recognized as the first Nigerian and African athlete to take home the gold in an International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) race.
Official records have it that the race started on November 20, 2021, in Innsbruck-Igls, Austria, and ended on January 16, 2022, in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Remarkably, at the final which was held in Winterberg, Germany, Simidele recorded a time of 2:01 to emerge champions ahead of Romania’s Popescu Georgeta and Ukraine’s Hunko Lidiia.
Celebrating her iconic feat, the elated Simi took to Instagram to say: “Few make history. Fewer change it.
“Before Friday, January 14th, 2022, no African athlete (male or female) had ever reached the top of the podium of an international bobsled or skeleton race. That all changed when I won the Europe Cup mono bob race in Winterberg, Germany and became the FIRST Nigerian and African athlete to take home the gold in an @ibsfsliding race.”
“With personal best down, and push start times, I raced for an unprecedented feat and earned a decisive victory.
“In a predominantly Eurocentric, male dominated sport, some didn’t expect to see an African woman atop the podium. In fact, there wasn’t even a Nigerian flag and anthem on hand for the awards ceremony (luckily I had my own flag☺️).
“No matter how unexpected my victory may have been for some, it was a shining moment in which my dream became a reality.”
It would be recalled that Adeagbo made history in 2018 when she took part in the Skeleton competition at the Winter Olympics in South Korea, becoming not only the first Nigerian to compete at the Winter Olympics but also the first African to compete in that event.
