The World Athletics Championship finally got underway in Oregon after much anticipation from both fans and athletes.
Team Nigeria had started the day with some issues as Ezinne Abba who just switched allegiance to Nigeria from the United States and most recently Favor Ofili and Rosemary Chukwuma will not be competing in the 100m.
Despite the disappointment, the team did have a great start to the world championship as there were qualifications into different finals both on track and field.
On the field, Nigeria and African champion, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi landed a 20.87m throw that was good enough to qualify him for the men’s Shot Put final, while Dotun Ogundeji who was in the second qualifying pool, got out to 18.35m at his best but could not make it like his teammate, Ebuka to the finals.
Hammer Thrower, Sade Olatoye started her second participation at the World Championship with a buzz. The African Champion competed in her event, finishing 13th in her qualification group with a mark of 64.82m, and could not make it to the finals.
On the track, Team Nigeria had a great outing as well in the 100m and 4×400 mixed relay.
In the 100m, Nigeria’s three entrants had good showings but only two qualified for the semifinals.
Raymond Ekevwo was able to finish third in the first heat in a time of 10.17s, taking the last automatic spot.
Nigeria’s fastest man, Favour Ashe did show up why he is champion with a brilliant performance in the next heat where he posted 10.00s for 4th but was still able t make it into the semis while Udoh you are you doing Onwuzurike managed sixth place in heat 6 with a time of 10.26s.
The mixed 4x400m quartet of Samson Nathaniel, Patience Okon-George, Dubem Amene & Imaobong Nse Uko showed resilience as they ran a season’s best of 3:14.59 t place 5th to qualify for the final at the Oregon 2022 World Championships.
In the finals, the quartet could only finish 6th with a time of 3:16.21.
Reacting to the debut experience, Patience Okon-George said: “the only thing that was on my mind, ‘Patience just go…don’t let the team down.”
The World Championship will continue till the 24th of July and team Nigeria will be hoping to win a medal at the competition.
