National 400m Hurdles Champion Miles Ukaoma opened his 2016 outdoor season on a good note as he hurdled to a Season’s Best (SB) of 49.60s to finish 4th at the 2nd edition of the Chris Brown Bahamas Invitational on Saturday April 16, 2016.
On a night when several World Leading (WL) marks were recorded, Ukaoma would be content with his performance which earned him a spot on the World’s Top 10 list in 2016.
USA’s Johnny Dutch was the race winner, clocking a WL of 48.36s, while Javier Culson of Puerto Rico and homeboy Jeffery Gibson placed 2nd and 3rd in 49.12s and 49.16s respectively.
Meanwhile Ukaoma’s team mate and rival Amaechi Morton was also in action on the night, also hurdling to an SB of 49.77s to finish 6th. This would serve as motivation for Morton who would be aiming to run faster than 49.40s in order to meet the Rio Olympics qualifying mark.
The duo were not the only Team Nigeria athletes in action on the night. National Record (NR) holder Ajoke Odumosu also had a decent outing, placing 3rd in 59.80s in the women’s category.
The race was won by Haye-Smith Yanigue of Turks and Caicos Island (TCI) who raced to the finishing line in 57.24s, while Great Britain’s Ese Okoro came 2nd in 57.80s.
In the men’s Triple Jump, National Champion Tosin Oke continued his build up to the season, placing 5th with his best jump of 16.40m. World Champion Christian Taylor was the event winner, jumping to a WL of 17.11m.
Lining up in the 200m against a stacked field, Olivia Ekpone placed 6th with her time of 23.90s as World 100m Bronze Medallist Tori Bowie set a WL of 22.26s to finish ahead of compatriot, Natasha Hastings who clocked 22.57s in 2nd place.
Ekpone’s time is more than a second slower than her Personal Best (PB) of 22.23s, and will have to run faster in the coming weeks if she’s to make Nigeria’s Olympic team to Rio.
