The final day of the 22nd African Senior Athletics Championships in Mauritius threw up a slice of history for Team Nigeria as Mike Edwards became the first Nigerian man to win an African Championships medal in the men’s High Jump since the 1996 edition in Yaounde when National Record (NR) holder, Anthony Idiata, won Silver with a distance of 2.16m.
Twenty-six years later, Edwards claimed his first ever medal for the country with a clearance of 2.15m to also win Silver, bringing his second appearance at the African Championships to a fitting end. He narrowly lost GOLD to Algeria’s Hichem Bouhanoune on countback, with South Africa’s Mpho Links settling for Bronze, also with the same mark of 2.15m.
The 31-year-old Nigerian will definitely relish his historic medal, considering he finished outside the medal zone in 4th at Asaba 2018 with the same jump of 2.15m. His Personal Best (PB) of 2.25m is only 2cm shy of Idiata’s NR which has stood for 24 years.
