The inaugural AFN/MoC Invitational was an outstanding outing for Nigerian high jumper Mike Edwards who returned to winning ways after settling for Bronze at his last outing at the Edo 2020 National Sports Festival (NSF).
This time around, Edwards took total control and left no one in doubt that he was a man on a mission and was going to leave no stone unturned on his path to victory. And so, he was near flawless in all his jumps, and was the last man standing at 2.15m, which was the winning mark at the NSF. He then cleared 2.20m, a Season’s Best, and then recorded a clean jump on 2.23m, his best mark since 2017, to win the men’s High Jump event. It’s also 10cm off the Olympic qualifying mark.
After securing the victory, Edwards twice attempted a new Personal Best of 2.28m, which is 1cm off Anthony Idiata’s National Record (NR), and then passed up the last attempt, ending the competition on the high.
Youngster David Aya who won the event at their last encounter in Benin, settled for 2nd place this time around with 2.10m while Cyprian Oyedele finished 3rd with 2.05m.
Meanwhile Annabel Orobosa showed that her National Sports Festival (NSF) title was no fluke, throwing a new Shot put Personal Best (PB) of 17.07m to win the event at the AFN/MoC Invitational, improving by more than 20cm from her previous PB of 16.82m which threw last month in Benin.
This makes it a third PB for Orobosa in as many competitions and her new mark puts her as the second Nigerian woman to have thrown over the 17m mark in the Shot put this season, just behind Sade Olatoye. Tina Samson and Nneka Ofulue were a distant 2nd and 3rd respectively.
She may not have been at her best today, but Ruth Agadama still found a way to win, leaping a mark of 5.96m (0.1) in the women’s Long Jump. Precious Okoronkwo jumped 5.90m to finish 2nd, while Tina Samson jumped 5.78m to take 3rd spot.
Ihezue Zola Nzube, Godwin Monday Charles and Blessing Oluwayemi were the Top 3 finishers in the men’s Triple Jump, settling for 15.23m, 15.10m and 14.71m respectively.
