Nigerian men’s 4×100m quartet makes a historic return to the Olympics after a 16-year absence, overcoming a shaky finish on Day 1 to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in the repechage round.
The quartet of Udodi Onwuzurike, Consider Ekanem, Alaba Akintola, and Seye Ogunlewe were initially denied a qualification spot after narrowly missing out by placing 4th with a time of 38.47s on Day 1, but that wasn’t the same story on Day 2 as the team brought their A-game, and introduced Karlington Anunagba in place of Ogunlewe.
Onwuzurike got things moving for the team with a brilliant start where he linked up with Ekanem who boasted of the second fastest split of 9.12s, which gave Nigeria the narrow lead.
Akintola ran the curve and passed the baton over to the anchor leg, Anunagba who executed a smooth finish trying to catch up with Ghana’s Joseph Paul Amoah, but it was the latter that came through first in a Season’s Best (SB) of 38.29s, while the former was 2nd in 38.57s, which automatically sealed Team Nigeria’s male 4x100m quartet’s qualification for the first time since Beijing 2008.
Dominican Republic was 3rd in 39.16s while The Netherlands Did Not Finish (DNF).
