Chinecherem Nnamdi clinched Nigeria’s second medal at the ongoing World Athletics U20 Championship when he won a Bronze medal in men’s Javelin, becoming the 1st Nigerian athlete in 19 years to win a Field event medal at the Championships since Esther Aghatise (Long Jump) in 2002.
Nnamdi, who just got signed by Baylor University in the United States recently, put up a fine series of throw to place third with a 3rd round best throw of 74.48m.
On the track, Udodi Onwuzurike laid down a strong marker to his opponents in the men’s 200m when he stormed to a new Championship Record (CR) of 20.13 (+2.3) to win his semifinals. Earlier in the heats, he had run a Personal Best (PB) of 20.47s.
Adekalu Fakorede ran a new PB of 20.87 in the 1st semis, but it wasn’t enough to see him through to the final.
Elsewhere, Favour Ofili put up a show in the women’s 200m semis, dominating the entire field to win her race in 22.37s. Her compatriot, Anita Taviore placed 8th in her semis, clocking 24.37s.
Nigeria’s only entry in the men’s 110m Hurdles, Prosper Oghenemine Ekporere hit a barrier in heat 2 of men’s 110m Hurdles semis, crashing to the track, but still picked himself up to finish the race in 6th place with 15.70s. He had earlier in the morning clocked a new Personal Best of 13.71s to win his first-round race.
In the women’s Long Jump, Ruth Agadama qualified for the final coming on Sunday, going through having jumped a mark of 6.06m. Agadama hit the 6m mark on her last attempt which got her through to the final.
Esther Osisike finished 11th with a 1st round attempt of 44.68m. Not the kind of outing she would’ve wanted, as she fouled on the 2nd attempt & then threw 44.17m on her 3rd attempt, which wasn’t enough to get her to the final rounds.
