Team Nigeria’s Kehinde Olubodun, Ese Brume, Samson Nathaniel, Adekunle Rilwan and Jennifer Edobi will begin the nation’s quest for medals on Day 1 of the 15th edition of the IAAF World Junior Championship, for athletes under the age of 20, which takes centre stage at the Hayward Field stadium in Eugene, Oregon, in the US from the July 22nd to 27th 2014.
Most of the country’s representatives to the six-day championship also featured in last year’s World Youth (U-18) Championships held in Donetsk, Ukraine where Nigeria failed to get to the podium, though athletes like Divine Oduduru and Edidiong Odiong reached boys’ 200m and girls’ 400m finals respectively.
Nigeria has won a total of 10 gold, 12 silver and 7 bronze medals since inception of the championship, which commenced in 1986 in Athens, with the likes of five- time Olympian, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi and a host of others ensuring that they got to the podium.The reverse now seems to be the case, as such heroic displays have long since eluded Nigeria at the junior level – the contingent to the last edition in Barcelona, Spain returned home without a single medal two years ago.
However there seems to be a glimmer of hope with the participation of Ese Brume in the Women’s long jump, if all goes according to plan. Based on current form, Brume, who won the national title in Calabar last month, is the favourite to win the event as she comes to the competition with a Season’s and Personal Best of 6.68m, while her closest opponent, Maryna Bekh of Ukraine has an SB of 6.36m and PB of 6.78m. Brume will compete in the qualification round this afternoon where she is expected to have a smooth sail to the final which comes up on Wednesday afternoon.
Nigeria stands a slim chance of a podium appearance in the men’s and women’s 4x100m relays. The men’s team is ranked fifth in the world behind Jamaica, Japan, Thailand and Great Britain while their female counterparts are ranked sixth. Team Nigeria will likely fare better in the ‘mile relay’ (4x400m), where the men’s quartet occupies second in the world ranking, just behind Trinidad and Tobago while the women’s 4x400m team are second behind Jamaica.
Nigeria’s sole participant in the men’s 100m will be Kehinde Olubodun, who has a PB of 10.49secs and will have his work cut out for him to even make the semis, in an event that has seen Team USA’s Trayvon Bromell run World Junior Record of 9.97 earlier this year. Japan’s Yoshihide Kiryu (PB 10.01s) and the Jamaican duo of Jevaughn Minzie and Michael O’Hara (10.16s & 10.19s respectively will be the medal favourites, as will Anguilla’s Zharnel Hughes (10.12s) who is attempting the 100/200m double – he is the fastest schoolboy in Jamaica and trains with Usain Bolt’s coach!
The duo of Adekunle Rilwan (46.21s) and Samson Nathaniel (46.42s) are set to compete in the preliminaries of the men’s 400m. Jennifer Adaeze Edobi will also feature in the women’s 800m while Bashiru Abdullahi will compete in the 110 Hurdles.
Follow the action from Day 1 of the World Juniors LIVE on SS2 TODAY from 5.50pm – 10.00pm (Session 1) and from 1.05 – 5.30am (Session 2)!
Team Nigeria (subject to change, according to the daily start-lists on the World Junior Champs website)
Men
1.Kehinde Olubodun (100m, 4x100m)
2.Divine Oduduru (200m, 4x100m)
3.Tega Odele (200m, 4x100m)
4.Rilwan Fasasi (400m, 4x400m)
5.Nathaniel Samson (400m, 4x400m)
6.Bashiru Abdullahi (110 Hurdles, 4x100m)
7.Fabian Edoki (Triple Jump)
8.Ini-Oluwa Oye (4x100m)
9.Omeiza Akerele (4x100m, 4x400m)
10.Obokinare Ikpefan (4x100m)
11.Sikiru Adeyemi (4x400m)
Women
1.Abolaji Omotayo (100m, 4x100m)
2.Deborah Odeyemi (100m, 200m, 4x100m)
3.Praise Idamadudu (200m, 400m, 4x400m)
4.Edidiong Odiong (400m, 4x400m)
5.Yinka Ajayi (400m, 4x400m)
6.Jennifer Edobi (800m, 4x400m)
7.Oluwatobiloba Amusan (100m Hurdles)
8.Ese Brume (Long Jump, 4x100m)
9.Nwanneka Okuelogu (Shot put, Discus)
10.Haisha Bisiolu (4x100m, 4x400m)
