Two Nigerian athletes: Patience Okon-George and the burgeoning Favour Ofili have both secured qualifications into the semifinals of the women’s 400m at the World Athletics Championships in Doha.
The African Youth Champion who came up against Botswana’s Galefele Moroko and Jamaica’s Stephanie Ann-McPherson ran her own race, finishing strong to take the third automatic spot in heat 4, returning a new Personal Best (PB) of 51.51s.
Moroko caught up with Ann-McPherson in the last bend, and then accelerated to a PB of 50.59s to take the win ahead of the Jamaican who was 2nd in 51.21s.
For Ofili, it was an improvement from the PB she ran in Rabat to win Silver in 51.68s. This is the 7th time this season that Ofili will be clocking a new PB, and who knows she could even break that again in the semis.
Okon-George on her part, got one of the six losers spots having finished 6th in heat 2 with a time of 51.77s. The Nigerian Champion will be making her third consecutive appearance in the 400m semis at a World Champs, making her first 400m semis four years ago in Beijing.
In that race, US Collegiate Champion, Wadeline Jonathas won with a time of 50.57s ahead of the Jamaican National Champion, Shericka Jackson who clocked 51.13s to finish 2nd.
