Divine Iheme


Divine Ebubechukwu Iheme is a British sprinter.

Early life

Born in Oxford, he is based in Radley in Oxfordshire. His early athletics training was at Radley Athletics Club. He started focusing on sprinting in 2022 at the age of 12 years-old.

Career

2024

He became English Schools Champion over 100 metres and won the 100m and 200m sprint double in the English Athletics indoor age-group championships in April 2024.
Iheme set a UK under-14 record of 10.56 for the 100 metres at the England Athletics U15 & U17 Open Championships in July 2024. He ran a world U14 best time of 10.30 seconds over 100 metres in August 2024 at Lee Valley. This time also placed him third on the European U18 all-time list behind Britain’s Teddy Wilson and France’s Jeff Erius.
Having turned 15 years-old in October 2024, he ran a personal best time of 6.76 seconds for the 60 metres in Lee Valley. This mark was 0.02 seconds behind the British U18 record set by Mark Lewis-Francis in 1999.

2025

In January 2025, he broke the world best mark for a 15-year old over 60 metres, previously set by J-Mee Samuels in 2003, running 6.72 and 6.71 seconds in consecutive races at the BFTTA Indoor Series in London. At the English Schools Championships he broke the inter boys 100m championships record of 10.48 with a run of 10.41 seconds. In August 2025 in Lee Valley, he ran the 100 metres in 10.29 seconds for a British U18 best, and a European all-time best for 15 year-old sprinters.

Personal life

His parents, Innocent Iheme and Nkiruka Anu, were both athletes who represented Nigeria at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. He is coached by his mother, who after spending nine years in the British military founded the PWD Athletic Academy in Oxfordshire. He has two older brothers, Praise, and Wisdom. He is nicknamed "Lightning"