Nigeria’s duo of Favour Ofili and Alaba Akintola have bowed out in the semi-final stage of the men’s and women’s 200m at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on Friday.
Ofili put up a decent performance in the women’s 200m semis, but could only manage a 6th place finish in Heat 3, clocking 22.86s.
Defending champion, Shericka Jackson took the win in same race with 22.00s as reigning 100m Champion Sha’Carri Richardson picked the second automatic qualifying spot, finishing in 22.20s.
Ofili, the current African indoor record holder, will rue missing out of yet another event final at what’s her third appearance World Championships. She bowed out in the semis in the 400m on her debut four years ago in Doha, and again narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 200m final in Oregon, where she placed 9th overall.
On his part, Akintola, racing in the Heat 2 of the men’s semi-final, clocked 20.75s to finish 7th. Kenny Bednarek (19.96s) edged Letsile Tebogo slightly (19.97s) to take the win.
The duo will return for the 4x100m relays which commence on Friday.
