World Athletics Championships: Team Nigeria Day 5 Review
Nigerian sprinters Favour Ofili, Grace Nwokocha, Rosemary Chukwuma and Udodi Onwuzurike were in action on Day 5 of the Oregon 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, all participating in the 200m semifinals.
Ofili on her part did not have a good start, and was left playing catch up in the Women’s 200m race with so much ground to make up. The women’s 200m seems to be at the very highest level ever and Favour Ofili came very close to being the first Nigerian to make a 200m final since 2013.
The Nigerian clocked a time of 22.30s to take 3rd in the third semifinal. Ofili missed out on an automatic qualification spot for the final as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica won the semi-final in a time of 21.83s.
Grace Nwokocha
Nigerian athlete Grace Nwokocha also missed out on qualification for the Women’s 200m final, finishing 5th in the semi-final heats.
Nwokocha clocked 22.49s to lose out to 4th place on the line to Brazil’s Vitoria Rosa who ran a South American Record of 22.47s. The Nigerian finished just five-hundredths of a second outside her Personal Best (PB).
Udodi Onwuzurike
Meanwhile, Udodi Onwuzurike was in action in the men’s 200m, returning a time of 20.39 to finish 6th in the semifinal won by Noah Lyles in 19.62s.
Defending champion Noah Lyles was in good shape to defend his title, bolting away to win heat 2 of 200m semis in 19.62s. His compatriot Kenneth Bendnarek dipped in ahead of Jereem Richards to finish third in a time of 19.84s.
Rosemary Chukwuma
Nigeria’s Rosemary Chukwuma finished with a respectable 22.72s in that heat 1 of women’s 200m finals of the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, USA.
Chukwuma finished in 7th place just behind Gambia’s Gina Bass who was one-hundredth faster than her in 22.71s to grab sixth place ahead of her.
Sharicka Jackson of Jamaica won the race in a massive 21.67s, easing down about 50m to go.
Chidi Nwoke/Making of Champions/World Athletics.
