- Nigeria’s women’s 4x400m relay team qualifies for World Relays
- Team clocked 3:31.14 at MTN Champs Athletics Classics
- Global event scheduled to hold in Botswana in May
- Nigerian men’s relay team narrowly misses qualification
Nigeria’s women’s 4×400 metres relay team delivered a standout performance at the MTN Champs Athletics Classics in Calabar, securing qualification for the World Relays Championships scheduled to take place in Botswana in May.
The Nigerian quartet: Patience Okon-George, Anita Enaruna, Treasure Okereke, and Jecinter Lawrence produced an impressive performance on the final day of the competition, finishing with a time of 3:31.14.
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The result pushed Nigeria up to 21st in the global rankings, displacing Mexico from the qualification spots for the upcoming global relay event.
Ethiopia finished second in the race with a time of 3:38.31, while Nigeria’s B team placed third with 3:40.50.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s men’s 4x400m relay team narrowly missed qualification for the World Relays Championships after recording 3:04.59, just under two seconds outside the required qualifying time of 3:03.
Team Nigeria athlete Nathaniel Samson expressed optimism despite the near miss.
According to him, the team ran between 3:04 and 3:05 during the race and believes that with more competitions, they can improve their time to meet the qualification standard.
Samson also highlighted the need for greater financial support for Nigerian athletes, noting that athletes invest significant time and effort in training and competitions.
He added that adequate support would help them achieve better results on the global stage.
The athlete praised the MTN Champs Athletics Classics initiative, describing it as a strong grassroots platform capable of discovering and nurturing young talents across Nigeria.
According to him, programmes like the MTN Champs can help produce more elite athletes similar to Tobi Amusan, the world record holder in the 100m hurdles.
• Team MTN B won the junior men’s 4x100m relay with 43.32 seconds, ahead of Team MTN A (43.62 seconds).
• Golden Edge finished third with 44.58 seconds.
• Grace and Gold dominated the girls’ relay race, winning in 48.89 seconds.
In the individual events:
• Toheebat Jimoh won the women’s 200m with a personal best of 24.51 seconds.
• Olaoluwa Obashola claimed the men’s 200m title in 21.74 seconds.
