Nigeria’s women’s 400m relay team won gold, while the ladies’ 100m quartet took bronze, on the final day of action at the World U-20 Athletics Championship in Nairobi, Kenya, thereby taking the country’s total haul to four gold and three bronze medals.
Megasportsarena.com reports that the unprecedented haul of medals by Nigerian athletes at this level saw the country finish third overall on the final medals table, while hosts Kenya ended top with eight gold, one silver and seven bronze medals.
Finland claimed second position with four gold and a silver medal, slightly ahead of Nigeria, whose first medal on the final day of action in Nairobi came from the women’s 4x100m relay quartet, which scooped a bronze medal.
The quartet of Praise Ofoku, Favour Ofili, Anita Traviore and Tima Seikeseye GodBless returned a time of 43.90secs behind Jamaica with gold and Namibia took home the silver medals, but it was a completely different scenario in the men’s race, as Nigeria’s team did not finish.
On the other hand, Nigeria’s final golden moment in Nairobi came in the women’s 4x400m relay, as the quartet of Opeyemi Oke, Imaobong Nse Uko, Ella Onojuvwevwo and Favour Ofili secured the country’s fourth gold medal of the youth championship with a time of 3:31:46secs.
The gold for Uko was her third in Nairobi, following earlier winning feats in the 4x400m mixed relays and 400m individual, but the men were again found wanting in the 4x400m race, as they placed just outside the medal zone in fourth position behind Botswana, Jamaica and Kenya.
Earlier in the day, Ezekiel Nathaniel ran the race of his life in the 400m hurdles, and broke the 50 seconds barrier for the first time in his career, but it was not enough for a podium finish, despite posting a new personal best time of 49.89secs to finish fourth.
Turkey’s Berkem Akcam claimed the gold with a time of 49.38secs, while Denis Novoseltsev and Devontie Archer from Jamaica settled for the silver and bronze medals respectively, but Nigeria also fell short in the women’s long jump, as Ruth Agadama finished eighth, despite achieving her best leap of 6.24m (+0.4) with her second attempt.
