Imeobong Uko ran a dominant race to win the Girls’ 400m GOLD medal barely an hour after winning her 200m semifinal race on Day 2 of Athletics at the 2018 National Youth Games (NYG) holding in Ilorin, Kwara State.
The Akwa Ibom State athlete had clocked the overall fastest time of 57.24s in the heats on Friday, and then shattered her Personal Best (PB) in the final where she outclassed the rest of the field to win in a lifetime best of 55.73s, with Ogun State’s Juliana Abayomi following in 56.43s. Taiye Ayenuro of Delta State was 3rd in 58.31s.
Salisu Habib won Kaduna’s second medal of the tournament after racing to a PB of 52.19s to finish ahead of Gadafi Suleiman of Taraba (53.44s) and Kwara’s Abu Sodiq Umar (54.09s). He had clocked the overall fastest time of 53.34s in the heats the previous day, and also claimed a Silver medal in the Boys’ High Jump.
Akwa Ibom’s Ability Udo retained her title from last year in the Girls’ T46 100m final where she snatched GOLD in a time of 14.23s. Bauchi’s Favour Martins and Miracle Otuwo of Lagos won Silver and Bronze respectively in 15.06s and 15.28s.
The Boys’ T46 100m final was won by Chukwuebuka Orji of Enugu (12.06s). He was followed by Michael Daniel of Abia (12.73s) and Solomon Daniel of Ogun State (12.97s).
Peace Ewa of Delta State was the girl to beat in the High Jump where she cleared a height of 1.55m, while Justina Ewa of Anambra followed in 1.50m. Imo’s Benita Okpomuechina was 3rd with a mark of 1.35m.
Emmanuel Ajenu of Bauchi won GOLD in the Boys’ Long Jump with a mark of 5.69m. Anambra’s Dike Mmaduabuchi took Silver with 5.31m, while Abu Sodiq Umar of Kwara State won his second medal of the day, this time around a Bronze medal with his jump of 5.21m.
Praise Oforku who won the Girls’ 100m title on Friday, clocked the fastest time in the 200m heats where she returned a time of 25.15s to win Heat 5. Mercy Oluka of Niger State won Heat 1 in 26.97s, while Heat 2 was dominated by Alimot Alowonle of Lagos State in 26.08s.
Uko took the win in Heat 3 in 25.32s, while Juliana Abayomi was the one to beat in Heat 4 with her time of 26.15s. Habibat Adesina of Oyo State won Heat 6 in 27.98s.
Goodness Ireda of Delta State was the fastest qualifier into the Boys’ 200m final after booking his spot with a time of 24.18s to win Semifinal 2. Emmanuel Ajenu won Semifinal 1 with 24.21s, while Okechukwu Collins Ezeh of the FCT won Semifinal 3 in 24.67s
