Olympic and World Championships Medallist Blessing Okagbare commenced preparation for the 2016 outdoor season on a victorious note over the 200m at the Michael Johnson Invitational in Texas, USA on Saturday, April 23.
The Nigerian sprint queen competing in Heat 7, ran the quickest time of 22.87s (-0.3), ahead of World Indoor finalist Michelle Lee-Ahye of Trinidad and Tobago, who came in 2nd in 23.14s to place 3rd overall.
Great Britain’s Ashleigh Nelson ran the second fastest time on the night in 22.96s (-0.2), while Baylor’s Freshman Kiana Horton was the fastest in the college category in 23.02s.
Meanwhile Okagbare’s teammates Christy Udoh and Ibukun Mayungbe also competed in the event, clocking 23.83s and 24.69s respectively to finish 8th and 15th on the overall list.
Udoh who earlier competed in the 100m, ran 11.74s to place 10th overall, while Ahye was the overall race winner in 11.13s.
Mayungbe on the other hand, came back in the 400m, racing to a Season’s Best (SB) of 53.83s, which placed her 5th on the overall list. America’s Phillis Francis ran the fastest time of 50.80s, while Jamaica’s Patricia Hall was 2nd in 51.64s.
In the men’s 200m, Nigerian 100m Champion Seye Ogunlewe opened his outdoor campaign on a fair note, clocking 20.99s to place 9th on the overall list. Ogunlewe was initially billed to compete in the sprint double, but eventually pulled out of the 100m.
World Indoors Silver medallist Asafa Powell won the event with the fastest time of 20.51s, while USA’s Diondre Batson was 2nd in 20.55s.
Choosing not to compete in his trademark event which is the 400m Hurdles, Miles Ukaoma raced to an SB of 21.68s in the 200m to place 17th on the overall list.
Also representing Nigeria on the night was Deji Owolabi, who clocked 1:53.43s to finish 2nd in the men’s 800m.
In other events, recently-crowned World Indoor champion over 60m, Trayvon Brommell raced to a win in the men’s 100m, clocking 10.04s, as Emre Barnes and Batson placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in 10.27s and 10.28s.
Former World Champion Jeremy Wariner dominated the men’s 400m with a time of 45.72s as Pedro Burmann and Hugo Sousa followed with 45.88s and 45.92s.
