Amaechi Morton

Who is Amaechi Morton?

Amaechi Morton is an American-born track and field 400-meter hurdler who competes for Nigeria. He was the 2012 400 m hurdles gold medallist at the NCAA Championships and the African Championships. He has a personal record of 48.79 seconds for the event.

Morton was born in Atlanta, Georgia to a Nigerian mother of Igbo descent, Nkem Sabena Obiekwe. He holds dual American/Nigerian citizenship. He attended Riverwood High School and while there he broke the school records in the 400 m hurdles and the 400-meter dash, as well as finishing second at the 2008 USATF Junior Olympics. He gained an athletic scholarship at Stanford University and began competing for the Stanford Cardinals in 2009.

Responding to the advice of Patience Itanyi, Morton opted to compete internationally for his mother's native Nigeria. In his first year at Stanford, he ran a personal best of 50.11 seconds for the 400 m hurdles, breaking the school's 28-year-old record. He came third at the Pac-10 Conference final and was a semi-finalist at the NCAA Championships. In July, he travelled to Nigeria and came second in the 400 m dash at the national trials. He was chosen for the 4×400-meter relay team and helped Nigeria reach the 2009 World Championships final, where they finished eighth. Returning to collegiate competition in 2010, he set a personal record of 48.94 seconds in the hurdles to finish second at the Pac-10 Championships, then earned his first All-American honours with a third place finish at the NCAA Outdoors.