Born to run: Runner Joel Jin Nwamadi races toward Asian Games gold

JINCHEON COUNTY, North Chungcheong — Few titles mean more to runner Joel Jin Nwamadi than “Korean national track and field athlete.”

The 20-year-old has a unique background, born in Seoul to a Nigerian father and Korean mother, but he describes himself simply as “a Korean born in Seoul and raised in Gimpo.” Now, one of Korea’s fastest men is racing toward a chance at national pride — an Asian Games gold.

Away from the track, he is much like any other Korean in his 20s: He listens to hip-hop, spends his downtime drawing and playing video games and enjoys fried chicken.

On the track, however, Nwamadi is anything but ordinary.

With his explosive power and blistering speed, Nwamadi is making waves in Korean track and field. Standing 186 centimeters (6 feet, 1 inch) and weighing 82 kilograms (181 pounds), he has the build — and the wheels — of an elite sprinter.

His name combines his baptismal name, Joel, with the Chinese character "jin," which means “treasure.” And he is quickly proving to be just.

Nwamadi earned his first national team call-up in 2025 after posting a high school best of 10.30 seconds in the 100 meters. This year, he has kicked into another gear. He clocked 10.08 seconds at the Yoshioka Memorial Izumo Meet in Japan in April and followed that with 10.09 seconds at the national championships in May.

Neither could count as an official record because the tailwind exceeded the allowable 2 meters per second (4.5 miles per hour), but Nwamadi had nevertheless broken through the 10.1-second barrier twice in quick succession.

Then, on July 19, he showed he did not need the wind at his back.

Nwamadi raced into a 1.3-meter-per-second headwind at Japan’s Niigata Prefecture track and field championships and still stopped the clock at 10.13 seconds. That put him just 0.06 seconds shy of the Korean record set a decade ago by retired sprinter Kim Kuk-young.

The performance also tied Nwamadi for the second-fastest 100-meter time in Korean history alongside Biwesa Daniel Kashama, who was born in Korea to parents from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and later became a naturalized Korean citizen.

Nwamadi and Biwesa have pushed each other to faster times on the track, though the competition does not necessarily make them inseparable off it.

“Honestly, it’s a little awkward when it’s just the two of us,” Nwamadi said with a laugh. “But during breaks, we play fighting games together.”

Japan has proven to be something of a fast lane for Nwamadi, with some of his best performances coming at competitions there. That bodes well with the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games just a month away, starting on Sept. 19.

His current time puts him just outside the likely medal range in the 100 meters. But if his rapid rise continues and another personal best falls, a surprise medal may not be out of reach.

“This is a stage I’ve been aiming for ever since I started track and field,” Nwamadi said. “I want to give it everything I have and get a good result. There are so many talented athletes and so many variables, so my first goal is to make the final and set a personal best. But I am hoping for a medal, at least a little.”

However, there is one race where Nwamadi is setting the bar higher.

In the men’s 4x100-meter relay, the target is clear: gold.

Korea’s relay squad broke the national record three times last year. With Nwamadi at his best on the straightaways and runner Seo Min-jun excelling around the curves, the team raced to gold at the 26th Asian Athletics Championships 2025 in Gumi, North Gyeongsang.

This year, Kashama and Kim Si-on have joined the squad, adding even more firepower. Japan and China remain the teams to beat in Asia, but the Korean runners are confident they can give the regional powerhouses a run for their money.

“Whenever we do low-intensity jogging, we practice our baton exchanges to build up the feel in our hands,” Nwamadi said. “Each of us has a section where we’re strongest, so we’re preparing around those strengths.”

Nwamadi wears a rosary around his left wrist. Even though he tends to embrace the butterflies rather than fight them and has no particular prerace ritual, he prays for a little peace of mind before races.

On his right hand is a ring with a message that leaves little doubt about just how fast he wants to go: “Beyond 9.99.”

“I went to make the ring with my mother in February, and I had the words engraved on it to represent my goal of breaking the 10-second barrier,” Nwamadi said.

BY KIM HYO-KYOUNG [[email protected]]