It was a mixed day for Team Nigeria in the women’s Relays at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing.
The quartet of Funke Oladoye, Tosin Adeloye, Patience Okon-George and Regina George won heat 1 of the women’s 4x400m beating the likes of Jamaica and Russia to win in 3:23.27. Jamaica placed 2nd with 3:23.62 and Russia 3rd with a time of 3:23.75s.
Nigeria with the win, earned a place in the final and will now hope to be amongst the medals on Saturday to make up for a disappointing Championships so far.
Meanwhile, in the women’s 4x100m relay, Nigeria couldn’t progress to the final as they finished 8th in heat 1. The quartet: Gloria Asumnu, Stephanie Kalu, Deborah Odeyemi and Cecilia Francis finished with a time of 43.89s.
The relays is one of Nigeria’s forte and has won the country numerous medals at international competitions, with the most recent dating back to the 2015 World Relays in Bahamas, where the quartet of Blessing Okagbare, Christy Udoh, Dominque Duncan and Regina George won GOLD in the 4x200m.
One could only hope that the 4x400m team runs a good race on Sunday to finish on the podium and atone for Nigeria’s poor outing so far.
In the women’s High Jump, Nigeria’s Doreen Amata was one of the 13 finalists in action on Saturday, but it was not to be her day as she finished in 12th. Amata in her second attempt cleared 1.88m, but the national champion couldn’t get past 1.92m as she exited the competition.
Russia’s Maria Kuchina won GOLD, with former world champion, Blanka Vlasic winning Silver and Olympic champion, Anna Chicherova, Bronze.
Amata easily qualified for the final with a perfect scorecard of: 1.80, 1.85, 1.89 & 1.92m at the first time of asking, but she couldn’t replicate that form in the final. With the All African Games to come next month, she will now hope to retain her title and end the year on a high.
With the Championships nearing conclusion, Nigeria is running out of time to at least finish with a medal.
