#TeamNigeriaCGW2022
The Women’s and Men’s 4x100m Relay Teams of Nigeria clinched Gold and Bronze respectively, on day 10 of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, at the Alexander Stadium on Sunday.
The Women’s team had the luxury of drafting Tobi Amusan into their squad, less than two hours after she had broken the Commonwealth Games 100m Hurdles record. The quartet comprised of Amusan in the lead leg, Favour Ofili on the back straight, Rosemary Chukwuma on the 3rd leg, and Grace Nwokocha anchoring the team.
Nigeria blazed to a new African Record (AR) of 42.10s, the fastest any Nigerian female team has ever run as they claimed Gold in the event. Team England finishing 2nd, while Jamaica finished 3rd.
Amusan started well for the team Nigeria and handed over to Ofili to bring the baton to Chukwuma, who was by far the outstanding athlete in the race. Chukwuma ate up the bend in the home straight, and gave Nwokocha a comfortable lead to bring home the baton for Gold.
Men’s 4x100m
In the Men’s 4x100m final, Udodi Onwuzuruike was drafted to take the lead leg for Nigeria, replacing Seye Ogunwele who anchored in the heat.
Raymond Ekevwo moved from the lead leg to the finish, bringing home the quartet comprising of Onwuzurike, Favour Ashe and Akintola Alaba in a time of 38.85s. It crowned a good day for Nigerian sprinting, underlining what the country is capable of producing in this event.
The last time Team Nigeria had two relay teams winning medals and finishing on the podium in the 4x100m event was at the Auckland 1990 Commonwealth Games in New Zealand. The quartet of Victor Nwankwo, Davidson Ezinwa, Osmond Ezinwa and Abdullahi Tetengi won the Silver medal in the Men’s 4x100m then.
The clocked an identical 38.85s as the team who won Bronze in Birmingham. While in the Women’s category, Beatrice Utondu, Fatima Yusuf, Charity Opara, Chioma Ajunwa ran a time of 44.67s to win the Bronze.
It goes to show that with better planning to harness the potentials at Nigeria’s disposal, the 4x100m is one event that could constantly rake in medals for the nation.
Chidi Nwoke/Making of Champions.
