Chidi Okezie stormed to GOLD in the men’s 400m to become the first Nigerian man to win this title since the great Innocent Egbunike in 1987.
This is a huge one for the Nigerian after winning a total of 4 Bronze medals at the Continental stage, dating back to Durban in 2016 at the African Athletics Championships.
Okezie topped his historic performance with a Personal Best of 45.06s, which is an huge improvement from his former PB of 45.60 that was set in 2021. Although, he came close to his PB in the semis where he ran a 45.63s to qualify as the second fastest overall.
Prior to the competition, Okezie had not run any 400m race this season either indoors or outdoors. The African Games was used as a season opener and it did pay off for him.
Okezie’s winning time is the fastest winning time at the African Games since Issac Makwala’s 44.35s at the Brazzaville Games in 2015. The time also sends him to number 10 on the all-time list of Nigerian Male quartermilers.
Muzala Samukonga, who was considered the heavy favourite took the Silver in a Season’s Best (SB) of 45.37s while Diouf Cheikh settled for Bronze in 45.49s. Dubem Nwachukwu finished 8th in 47.13s.
This man also should be awarded a National award with monetary compensation and all those who won medals for the country because they achieved this most probably without any contribution from the Federal government, so they the government should not claim any responsibility for the men and women of Nigeria Team achievements.
Well done to Chidi, if he hadn’t slowed down, he would most certainly have gone under 45s; he will definitely be one to watch out for in Paris, if he gets a ticket.