Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare powered to a Season’s Best (SB) of 22.58s to win the women’s 200m at the Sollentuna Grand Prix held last week in Stockholm, Sweden.
Okagbare who was never in danger of losing the race, comfortably coasted to victory and used almost a second to beat her nearest challengers. Mariely Sanchez finished 2nd in the race with 23.52s and Alexandra Bezekova 3rd with 23.66s.
This is Okagbare’s first outing over that distance this season, having on different occasions this year competed in both the 100m and Long Jump, thereby fueling speculation that she could be gunning for all three events at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
While speaking with Making of Champions in Durban, President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Solomon Ogba, noted that Okagbare was aiming to participate solely in the 200m had she made the trip for the 2016 African Championships.
With this win, Okagbare is now the highest ranked African athlete in the women’s 200m, occupying the 22nd spot in the world rankings, with Ivory Coast’s Murielle Ahouré, next to her on the continent but ranked 36th in the world with her winning time of 22.72s at the Shanghai Diamond League in May.
With the National Championships taking place in Sapele, Delta State this week, it is left to be seen what event Okagbare would elect to compete in, or if she would aim to reclaim just her 100m title.
