Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor:
To many people, the World Championships presents Okagbare with the perfect opportunity to prove some critics wrong, showing that she can perform on the biggest of stages. Seen in her home country by some as faltering when it matters most, she will be hoping to change that perspective about her once and for all.
It is no secret that Okagbare’s start appears to be her Achilles heel – leaving the blocks with a slow reaction time that can only see her trailing others. When it comes to chasing others, there aren’t many better than her in doing that. However, in the final in Beijing, she may need to lead from the start to claim glory, especially with the likes of Fraser-Pryce with her bullet start in the field.
Okagbare was one of the stand-out athletes in the Diamond League last year, narrowly missing out from winning the 200m trophy in the final meet, with Allyson Felix nicking it on the last day in Brussels. However, she will be happy having won double GOLD at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, which is arguably the crowning achievement of her career so far.
It might not have gone the way Okagbare wanted at the 2012 Olympics in London, finishing 8th in the 100m, while she also finished 5th and 6th respectively at the last two 100m World Championship finals in Daegu and Moscow. She did however claim a double in Moscow (Silver in the Long Jump & Bronze in the 200m), but a podium placement in the 100m and maybe even the title will be paramount in her mind in Beijing. She will need to medal in the shorter sprint to etch her name firmly as one of the great sprinters of this decade.
She started this year with a time of 11.05s at the Jamaican invitational where she finished 2nd. Later on in May, she defeated a star-studded field that included Fraser-Pryce to win the Shanghai Diamond League in a time of 10.98s, and finished 2nd behind her in Paris with a SB of 10.80s. In London, she clocked 10.98s and 11.00s in the semis and the final, with a 2nd place finish.
Okagbare has had an inconsistent season, particularly considering her 200m and Long Jump form – she only ranks as 27th (22.67s) and 46th (6.66m) respectively in the world this year in the two events she medalled in at the last Worlds. This may simply be down to her increased focus on the 100m, perhaps a wise decision given that she’s unlikely to attempt the triple as she did last time around in Moscow (thanks to an unkind schedule the Long Jump and 200m finals in Beijing are within an hour of each other anyway).
Perhaps Blessing is also learning from previous seasons, where she has dominated on the Diamond League scene but perhaps did not leave enough in reserve to perform when it mattered the most? Whilst her Double Gold at the Commonwealth Games last year showed that she can indeed peak at the right time for a major championships, her remaining ‘Doubting Thomases’ would only be put to shame if she is able to deliver when the whole world is present, and not just the Commonwealth. If she gets her start right, the sky is the limit for Blessing!
