Having ended his indoor season with a debut for Nigeria at the Portland 2016 World Indoor Championships, Chidi Okezie has transited to the outdoor circuit, participating at the Gainsville Florida Relays on Thursday.
Okezie competed in the 200m and finished 4th with a time of 21.63s, with James Harris winning the race in 20.80s and Antonio Rodrigues 2nd in 21.01s as Chun-Han Yang finished 3rd in 21.06s.
Former 400m World Champion LaShawn Merritt, won Heat 1 of the 200m with the fastest time of all heats, running 20.23s to take the win.
In his first 200m race this year, albeit indoors, Okezie ran the fastest time in all heats of the 200m at the Boston Indoor Meet in February, winning Heat 1 in 21.02s. He went on to finish 3rd in his 400m heat in Portland, clocking 47.05s.
Another Nigerian athlete, Ini-Oluwa Victor Oye ran 21.00s to finish 2nd in Heat 6, as he was narrowly beaten by Michael Timpson who won the race in 20.97s.
In February at the Fayetteville Indoor Meet in USA, Oye ran a time of 21.30s, finishing 2nd in Heat 1 of the race.
Meanwhile in the women’s category, Ugonna Ndu finished 5th in the women’s 400m Hurdles, running a time of 57.63s.
The race was won by Claudia Francis who clocked 56.43s, as Kelsey Balkwill finished 2nd in 57.14s and Jennifer Cotten 3rd in 57.38s.
In a week Nigerian athletes like Tobi Amusan, Fabian Edoki and many others have been churning out good performances, most of them will hope to be at their best in order to stand a chance of representing the country at global competitions this year.
Photo Credit: articles.philly.com
