2023 World Athletics Championships: Team Nigeria's sprinters in the mix
Posted : 20 August 2023
Team Nigeria continue with actions at the 19th edition of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, as the World meet, enters Day-2 on Sunday with Nigerian athletes, involved in some of the eye-catching events.
The Women's Discus throw will have Nigerian representatives and Women's 400 meters hurdles heats and the Men's 400 meters heats.
Other notable races scheduled are the Men's 400 meters hurdles heats, beginning at 10.25am and Women's 100 meters heats slated for 11:10am.
The key interest to Nigerians will be the two sprinters, Usheoritse Itsekiri and Seye Ogunlewe as both will looking to qualify for the Men's 100 meters final.
One of Team Nigeria's brightest prospect for a podium finish in Budapest, Ese Brume has the opportunity to earn Nigeria's first medal, when competition in the Women's Long Jump final.
Brume qualified for the final, ranked No. 4 with a jump of 6:72 meters, and she will be looking to improve on her leap of 7:00 metres in Eugene, Oregon, USA that won her the Bronze medal at the last edition of the championships.
Day-2 activities will culminate in the final of the Men's 100 meters Blue Riband race, which is programmed to spike off at 18:10pm, and also serve as the day's show stopper.
Hopefully, one or both of Team Nigeria's Usheoritse Itsekiri and Seye Ogunlewe should be able to finish in the top four of their respective semifinal races, to qualify as one of the eight men's 100 meters finalists.
The last time a Nigerian man made a World Championships final in 100 meters was in 2007, when Olusoji Fasuba finished 4th and just outside the podium places.
Nigeria had also not been represented in the men’s sprint final at the Olympics, since Davidson Ezinwa achieved the feat in Atlanta ’96.
But Enoch Adegoke did so in 2021, to become the first Nigerian to qualify for the Olympics 100 meters final in 25 years, at the delayed Japan 2020 games.
The 23-year-old dipped 10.00 seconds to finish second in heat 2 of the semi-final, in Tokyo.
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