A new winner is set to emerge in the men’s 200m final on Thursday, December 8th, at the ongoing National Sports Festival in Asaba, Delta State, taking over from Alaba Akintola who won the event at Edo 2021.
At the end of Day 4 of Athletics, a relatively unknown Musibau Adebisi sent shockwaves across the stadium after storming to an impressive lifetime best of 20.58s (if ratified) to win Heat 8 of the men’s 200m, the fastest time across all heats and a huge improvement on his previous Personal Best (PB) of 21.20s set in June when he finished 2nd to Akintola at the National Championships in Benin.
Emmanuel Ojeli had the second overall fastest time of 21.10s in Heat 5 while Sunday Akintan clocked 21.20s to win Heat 3.The trio also won their respective heats in the semis with Adebisi qualifying for the final with a clocking 21.08s in Heat 1 as Ojeli posted 21.16s in Heat 2. Akintan won Heat 3, crossing the line in 21.27s.
Tima Godbless is aiming for a sprint double after dominating the 200m heats and semis. The Bayelsa State athlete was the second fastest across all seven heats with her time of 23.85s, just 0.01s slower than Faith Okwose who won Heat 7 in 23.84s.
However, the newly crowned 100m Champion raised the stakes in the semis, running the fastest time overall to win Heat 2 in a new Personal Best of 23.23s (if ratified). Heat 1 of the women’s 200m semis was won by Delta’s Okwose in 23.76s while Adetutu Aladeloye of Rivers State won Heat 3 in 24.17s.
Since he fully switched to the Triple Jump event, Chidozie Ikenga Kalu (Rivers state) has been winning National medals, and making the switch worth it. Kalu won his first NSF title, winning the men’s Triple Jump leaping a distance of 15.69m.
