Age has never been a limit in track and field. Before the men’s 100m Diamond League Final in Brussels on September 4, much of the attention was on 21-year-old Kayinsola Ajayi. The Nigerian had enjoyed a breakthrough season, winning Diamond League races in Eugene and London in 9.84 seconds and beating Oblique Seville on both occasions. With another big race ahead, Ajayi looked ready to finish the season with one more statement. But Brussels had a different story to tell.

Seville finally got his revenge, winning the Diamond League Final in 9.90 seconds. Behind him, though, was someone who had already proved that age does not have to slow a sprinter down. Emmanuel Eseme, 33, finished second in 9.93, leaving the 21-year-old Ajayi third in 9.97.

For Eseme, it was more than just another medal. While many elite sprinters begin chasing the 100m from their teenage years, Eseme only started sprinting at the age of 24. Now 33, he is still getting faster, still competing against the world’s best. “I really wanted to win tonight, but to be honest I’m also happy with second place and 9.93 in this field,” Eseme said.

What makes his progress even more impressive is that sprinting was never his original plan. Eseme was playing football, where he was a goalkeeper, while studying environmental engineering at university. His speed was noticed during those years, and what started as an opportunity to try athletics eventually became the career that changed his life. Since making that switch, Eseme has continued to climb.

In 2018, he reached the 100m semifinal at the African Championships. A few years later, he was regularly competing at major international championships and began collecting medals. In 2023, he won the 100m at the Francophone Games. That same year, he broke 10 seconds for the first time, running a Cameroonian record of 9.96. In 2024, he added 100m gold at the African Games and reached the semifinal at the Paris Olympics.

Then came 2026, arguably the biggest season of his career. Eseme became African champion in the 100m before producing another huge performance at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. And now, after all of that, he has finished second in the Diamond League Final at 32.

“I’ve made a lot of progress this season and I hope I will continue to develop like that in the upcoming seasons,” Eseme said. “I’m 32 years old now and I feel that I still have a lot to learn, but it’s nice to see that I’m still getting better over the years.”

Although he said that earlier in the season, Eseme only turned 33 on August 17. And even at that age, he is not talking about slowing down. He is talking about learning, getting better, and seeing how much more he can achieve.

“I hope I can inspire people that despite your age, you can still chase your dreams,” he said. For someone who went through so much in 2025, it is fair to ask just how much Eseme still has left to achieve.

Injuries tested Eseme before his biggest season

Eseme started his 2025 campaign on the wrong foot. He suffered a setback before even starting his outdoor campaign when an injury to his Achilles tendon in his right foot kept him off the entire indoor season. Upon his eventual return, he needed to slowly get back into competition. That comeback began with the Diamond League, where Eseme showed encouraging signs of his old form.

He finished inside the top six in each of his first four Diamond League 100m races, but his biggest early moment came in Rome on June 6. There, he broke 10 seconds again with a 9.99 finish for second behind Trayvon Bromell. A month later, he produced another big moment in the 200m. On July 7, he ran 20.23 seconds to set a new Cameroonian national record. But just when things seemed to be coming together, another setback arrived.

The injury problems once again affected his ability to race consistently, and by the time he was preparing for the World Championships in Tokyo, Eseme admitted that he was training but not at full force. Despite all of that, he still made it to Tokyo to represent Cameroon well in both the 100m and 200m. But the World Championships did not provide the ending he wanted.

Then came 2026, and almost everything changed. Eseme returned to the indoor season and immediately showed that he was not done. He reached the World Indoor Championships 60m final, running 6.52 seconds in the semifinals to match his Cameroonian national record before finishing fifth in the final. He carried that form outdoors and opened his campaign with a win at the Simbine Classic in Pretoria, where he ran 10.03 seconds.

Then came another moment he had been waiting years for. At the 2026 African Championships in Accra, Eseme finally won the 100m title. After coming close to the African crown in previous years, he had finally become the continent’s champion. But his biggest moment of the season was still ahead. At the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Eseme first broke the Cameroonian record in the semifinal with 9.89 seconds.

Finally, somehow, he stepped up to another level and went on to win gold at the Commonwealth Games and to set a new national record at 9.83. From missing the entire indoor season in 2025 to standing on top of the Commonwealth podium in 2026, Eseme had already turned a difficult chapter into the best season of his career.