Shell-sponsored Chiamaka Egbochinam opened her 2018 season at the Commonwealth Games Trials held in the main bowl of the Abuja National Stadium, where she competed in the women’s 100m and 4x100m at the event which was held from February 14th to 16th.
The 16-year old enjoyed an impressive outing at the competition and proved to be a formidable opponent whilst competing in the heats and semis of the women’s 100m, impressively holding her own whilst racing against her more experienced counterparts.
While running in the heats, Egbochinam was inspired to a Personal Best (PB) as Rosemary Chukwuma won the race in 11.67s, with the Making of Champions (MoC) athlete clocking a lifetime best of 12.01s in 2nd place.
She then raced to another 2nd place finish behind Grace Ayemoba in the semis where she ran a time of 12.10s to advance to the final where she placed 7th in her first ever outing at the Commonwealth Games Trials.
Egbochinam then anchored Team Moc’s 4x100m women’s team comprising of Joy Udo-Gabriel, Moyosore Badejo and Ifunanya Muoghalu to a 3rd place finish in the relays where the quartet returned a time of 46.21s.
The 2017 National Youth Games Bronze medallist relished her first Commonwealth Games Trials experience, and disclosed that she is looking forward to dropping faster times in the near future.
“Getting into the final was not easy at all; I placed 2nd in the heat and 2nd in the semis as well, and then qualifying for the women’s final as a youth athlete, I am so grateful. I thank God for everything”, she said.
“I know I have missed a lot because this is just my first competition for the season, but I am really happy to be here and to be starting my season with a Personal Best. I am looking forward to running faster times because my PB wasn’t so impressive. I haven’t trained as much as I should because of school, but I really need to put in more effort in training”.
Meanwhile fellow MoC athletes Joy Udo-Gabriel and Jerry Jakpa raced to 3rd place in the women’s 100m and men’s 200m respectively at the Commonwealth Games Trials. Both athletes are being sponsored by oil and gas company ARCO Group.
Another MoC athlete Ifunanya Muoghalu also finished 3rd in the women’s 200m final at the Trials.
