Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare opened her season in the Long Jump with a 4th place finish at the Drake Relays on Friday, April 29th in Des Moines, Iowa, USA.
Okagbare, who scarcely jumped last season, recorded her best leap of 6.25m made in her very last attempt.
Her first jump was 6.24m (+1.0) and she fouled in her second attempt, jumping 5.97m in her third try and 6.20m in the fourth. A foul in the fifth ensured that she needed a strong finish in order to be close to the Top 3.
Great Britain’s Lorraine Ugen was the surprise winner, leaping 6.82m (+3.5) to take the win as Olympic champion, Brittney Reese finished 2nd with 6.74m (+1.5).
Interestingly, Ugen’s winning mark was gotten from her first attempt as other athletes tried to match that distance. Chelsea Hayes finished 3rd with a mark of 6.32m (+2.0).
Incidentally, Okagbare’s main successes globally have been in the Long Jump, winning Bronze at the Beijing 2008 Olympics and Silver (Long Jump) and Bronze (200m) medals at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.
With this being Okagbare’s first jump in 2016, it will be interesting to see how well she performs in the event this year and if she can reach her Personal Best of 7.00m .
Okabare is just getting started