It was an intense first day of action at both the Yabatech and Unilag Sports Complexes as athletes from across the nation battled it out to win medals and points for their respective schools and teams on Day 1 of the MTN CHAMPS Continental Relays in Lagos.
The 100m and 400m events witnessed a Personal Best (PB) galore across all divisions, with two-time Olympian, Emmanuel Ojeli smashing his three-year-old Personal Best (PB) to seal the win in his 100m semifinal heat, dashing to a time of 10.24s. Emmanuel Babalola was a far 2nd in 10.55s while Ganiu Hassan was 3rd in 10.63s.
Fresh from his heroics at the Niger Delta Sports Festival, Favour Ashe clocked a wind assisted 10.14s to snatch the win in his heat over ThankGod Igube (10.23s) while Chidera Ezeakor dominated his semifinal race in 10.43s, finishing ahead of Oriyomi Akala (10.56s).
After obliterating her PB by two hundredths of a second in the prelims with a time of 11.48s, Iyanu Bada left no stone unturned, stopping the clock at 11.38s in the semifinals. In the same heat as Bada, Janet Adesiyan ran 11.88s while Favour Odiyeye posted a time of 11.97s.
In the Junior men’s 100m, John Caleb bettered his PB in the semis with a sound 10.38s after narrowly missing his lifetime best by a whisker in the heats to lead the 100m in his category. Behind him, Qudus Akintoye clocked a time of 10.59s as Abdulrahman Jimoh registered 10.61s to round up the top 3 fastest times in the semis.
In the Junior women’s 100m, Team MTN’s Lucy Nwankwo posted the fastest time across all semis, racing to a PB of 12.07s to dominate her heat. Her teammate Azeezat Muhammed-Raji was 2nd overall after winning her heat in 12.20s while Ojone Akubo-Adegbe placed 3rd overall in 12.27s.
Samson Nathaniel was the fastest qualifier overall in the men’s 400m heats, storming to a Season’s Best (SB) of 46.20s while Benjamin Magaji won his heat in 48.28s to finish 2nd overall.
The women’s 400m witnessed three-time Olympian Patience Okon-George post a season’s opener of 53.19s while Miracle Donald-Uwem recorded a new lifetime best of 54.59s to win her heat and claim the overall second fastest time in the heats.
