Blessing Okagbare, Africa’s Sprint Queen and 100m Record Holder, blasted to the Commonwealth Games 100m Title at Hampden Park in Glasgow on Monday night in 10.85 seconds, the second fastest time of her career and a new Commonwealth Games record!
Okagbare, who has concentrated more on the 200 metres this season, came into the Games as No. 3 in the Commonwealth this season with 10.97s, with both Trinidad & Tobago’s Michelle-Lee Ahye (10.85) and Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown (10.86) ahead of her in the pecking order. However, following Ahye’s withdrawal due to injury after the Heats, the stage was set for a virtual two-horse race between Okagbare and Campbell-Brown. Blessing laid a marker in the Semi-Final with a very easily run 10.93s, which signalled the kind of form that she has come into at the business end of the season.
In the final, Campbell-Brown, twice the 200m Olympic Champion but never a Commonwealth Games Champion, was able to stay with Okagbare for the first 50 metres, but after that it was all about Blessing all the way to the line! Following the race she was understandably ecstatic at winning her first major global title, and attributed her ability to remain calm under the pressure from Campbell-Brown to her coach John Smith, who told her to remain patient throughout the race – how does one remain patient for 10.85 SECONDS?
So what’s next for Nigeria’s favourite daughter? Well, before the week runs out she will be aiming to become the first Nigerian to win 3 GOLD medals at a single Commonwealth Games! This will not come easy – ordinarily, she would be the favourite to win both the 200m (which she has favoured this season) and the Long Jump (in which she won her first global medal – Olympic Bronze at Beijing ’08), but the Games schedule does not favour her – the finals of the 200m and Long Jump are BOTH on Thursday night, within a couple of hours of each other!
That said, don’t bet against her making a successful attempt to double up on the same night, even though she has somewhat de-prioritised the Long Jump this season. Perhaps she can win it in 2 or 3 Jumps, rest for an hour, then go and claim the 200m Crown as well, just as she did in the Shanghai leg of the Diamond League earlier this season? With the imperious form she’s in right now, we wouldn’t be against her doing just that! And we haven’t even mentioned the 4x100m relay starting on Friday. It will be a very busy week in Glasgow for Africa’s premiere athlete – will she have 4 medals by the end of it? We’ll know soon enough!
