It was an evening to forget for Team Nigeria in their penultimate events as the men’s and women’s 4x100m teams didn’t make it past their respective heats on Day 7 of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
The men’s 4x100m quartet consisting of Favour Ashe, Usheoritse Itsekiri, Alaba Akintola, and Seye Ogunlewe narrowly missed out in the final by 0.01s after placing 5th in their heat in a Season’s Best (SB) of 38.20s.
Olympic Champions Italy won the race in a world-leading time of 37.65s. South Africa came 2nd in 37.72s, while Great Britain was 3rd in 38.02s. Brazil edged Nigeria to get the last non-automatic spot in 38.19s.
The women’s 4x100m squad comprising Justina Eyakpobeyan, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma, and Faith Okwose Did Not Finish (DNF) after Eyakpobeyan was unable to get the baton to Ofili.
The USA dominated the heat with an SB of 41.59s. Ivory Coast came through in an African Record of 41.90s, becoming the first African 4x100m women’s quartet to go under 42s. Italy was 3rd in a National Record (NR) of 42.14s.
Team Nigeria will go one more time in the women’s 4x400m with the hope of keeping the country’s medals dreams alive.
