After a long three-year break, the much awaited 2022 World Athletics Championships finally got underway in Eugene, Oregon, with country’s best athletes featuring in events that ranged from the mixed 4x400m to the men’s 100m heats, men’s Shot Put and women’s Hammer Throw on the first day.
The Nigerian mixed 4x400m quartet of Samson Nathaniel, Patience Okon-George, Dubem Amene & Imaobong Nse Uko showed heart and grit as they stormed to a Season’s Best (SB) of 3:14.59, placing 5th in their heat and qualifying for the final at the Oregon 2022 World Championships! Fielding in the same athletes in the final, Team Nigeria placed a respectable 6th with a time of 3:16.21.
In the men’s 100m, two of Nigeria’s three entrants qualified for the semifinals. Raymond Ekevwo finished 3rd in the first heat, won by Marvin Bracy (10.05s) with a time of 10.17s, taking the last automatic spot. Favour Ashe followed that up with a brilliant performance in the next heat where he posted 10.00s for 4th place, narrowly missing out on automatic qualification but still good enough to secure him a spot in the semifinals.
Udodi Onwuzurike managed sixth place in heat 6 with a time of 10.26s.
On the infield, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi landed a 20.87m throw, good enough to take 4th and qualify for the men’s Shot Put final. Dotun Ogundeji who was in the second qualifying pool, got out to 18.35m at his best and didn’t progress to the next round.
African Champion in the women’s Hammer Throw Sade Olatoye, competed in her event, finishing 13th in her qualification group with a mark of 64.82m.
