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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.
After winning Nigeria’s first-ever medal at a World Aquatics competition earlier this year at World Juniors, Abdul Jabar Adama has continued his rise.
The 17-year-old, who trains at Mount Kelly Swimming in England, was on fire at last weekend’s Swim England South West Winter Championships, lowering a trio of Nigerian SCM records in the 50 free, 50 fly and 100 fly.
Adama had his biggest improvement come in the 100 fly, lowering his previous Nigerian Record by more than eight-tenths in 51.64, knocking off his year-old mark of 52.45 set at the same meet last December.
In the 50 free, he reset his national mark in both the prelims and the final, first clocking 21.76 in the morning to inch out his previous record by one one-hundredth (21.77). In the final, he blasted his way to a time of 21.64, chipping 12 more one-hundredths off the Nigerian Record.
In the 50 fly, Adama fired off a time of 23.17 to lower his previous record of 23.29, also set last December.
He also raced the 100 free, clocking 48.87 in the prelims (and 48.93 in the final) to fall just shy of his National Record of 48.79, and he also put up a time of 1:59.45 in the 200 free after setting a new Nigerian mark of 1:55.53 in early October.
At the 2025 World Juniors, Adama won silver in the 50 fly in a time of 23.64, having set a LC Nigerian Record of 23.48 in the semis. He also placed 7th in the 50 free (22.39) after setting a National Record of 22.21 in the prelims, and took 18th in the 100 fly (54.00).
He also represented Nigeria at the 2024 Short Course World Championships in Budapest, placing 40th in the 50 free (22.03) and 41st in the 50 fly (23.56).
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Hope he ends up in Knoxville!