Team Nigeria’s trio of Joy Udo-Gabriel, Jennifer Madu and Isoken Igbinosun advanced to the women’s 100m semis after making the Top 3 in their respective heats on Sunday, Day 1 of Athletics at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
Igbinosun kicked off competition for Nigeria in Heat 1 where she placed 3rd in 11.69s, finishing behind Ghana’s Halutie Hor who won with a Personal Best (PB) of 11.45s, and Trinidad and Tobago’s Khalifa St. Fort (11.57s).
Jennifer Madu was pitted against Michelle-Lee Ahye in Heat 4 where she advanced to the final in 3rd place with her time of 11.62s as Ahye won with the overall fastest time of 11.27s.
Making of Champions athlete Udo-Gabriel was sensational in the final heat (Heat 6) as she made her international debut for Nigeria.
Udo-Gabriel who came with a PB/Season’s Best (SB) of 11.65s, stormed to an impressive 2nd place and lowered her PB by a massive 0.23s as she crossed the line in 11.42s to finish 2nd to Jamaica’s Gayon Evans (11.37s).
In case you are just waking up from sleep, here's the moment Joy Udo-Gabriel raced to a Lifetime's Best of 11.42s to qualify for the semifinals of the women's 100m on her maiden international appearance for #TeamNigeria #GC2018Athletics pic.twitter.com/5EQ72Si4Nt
— Making of Champions (@MakingOfChamps) April 8, 2018
All three ladies will file out for the semis where Madu has been drawn in Semifinal 1 (8.12am) and will face England’s Asha Philip and Natasha Morrison of Jamaica.
Igbinosun will compete in Semifinal 2 (8.19am) where she has been pitted against Ahye and Evans, while Udo-Gabriel will race in Semifinal 3 (8.26am) where she will go head-to-head with one of the competition favourites, Christania Williams of Jamaica.
