Abdul-Rasheed Saminu has overtaken Benjamin Azamati to become Ghana’s top-ranked men’s 100m sprinter in the latest World Athletics rankings, released on May 20, 2025.
The 27-year-old Saminu now holds the 37th spot globally and 8th in Africa, ending Azamati’s four-year reign as Ghana’s leading sprinter.
Saminu has enjoyed a stellar start to the 2025 season. At the Pepsi Florida Relays in April, he clocked a wind-assisted 9.87 seconds at Gainesville’s Percy Beard Track, signalling his intent.
He followed this with a commanding 10.06-second victory in the final at the East Coast Relays in early May, improving his heat time by 0.16 seconds.
A disqualification in the heats at the American Conference Outdoor Championships in North Carolina interrupted his momentum, but his early-season form has lifted him 13 places in the global rankings since January.
Meanwhile, Azamati, also 27, remains a fierce competitor despite slipping to 38th globally and 9th in Africa.
He opened his season with a 10.07-second win at the Mt. SAC Relays in California and followed it with a 10.02-second triumph at Arizona’s Desert Heat Classic.
His standout performance came at the Franson Last Chance meet in California, where he ran a season’s best of 9.93 seconds, just 0.06 seconds behind world No. 4 Fred Kerley of the USA.
This effort helped him climb two spots in the rankings.
