African Games: Tobi Amusan's historic Gold, Okezie's triumph in 37years and Ghana losing 'relay jollof war' highlights performances on Day 3

African Games: Tobi Amusan's historic Gold, Okezie's triumph in 37years and Ghana losing 'relay jollof war' highlights performances on Day 3

Funmilayo Fameso 07:38 - 21.03.2024

Recap of Day 3 performances of Nigerian athletes at the African Games led by the historic performances of Tobi Amusan and Chidi Okezie.

Team Nigeria continued their supremacy and dominance in athletics at the African Games in Ghana, as Tobi Amusan, Chidi Okezie, and the 4x100m relay teams sparked up performances on Day 3.

Led by their legendary hurdling queen, Amusan sped to a historic hat-trick of women's 100m Hurdles gold titles at the Games, blazing to a respectable 12.89s.

Tobi Amusan won a historic hat-trick of African Games titles

By doing this, she became the first female athlete in African Games history to do a three-peat of titles and continued Nigeria's unbeaten legacy of winning the event since the Game's inception.

After winning four bronze medals at the continental stage dating back to Durban in 2016 at the African Athletics Championships, Okezie finally got his deserving gold medal by running a stunning Personal Best (PB) of 45.06s in the men's 400m final.

Chidi Okezie won Nigeria's first 40m gold medal in 37years

It is the fastest time by a Nigerian athlete in nine years, Nigeria's first gold medal since legendary Innocent Egbunike won it 37years ago, and he defeated one of the world's fastest men in Zambia's Muzala Samukonga, who clocked 45.37s for the historic feat.

The 4x100m relays also lived up to the hype, with Nigeria having a clean sweep of the men and women's categories.

Amusan effortlessly claimed her second gold medal on the night, anchoring the squad of Tiana Eyakpobeyan, Olayinka Olajide, and Fore Abinusawa to the title in 43.06s - just missing out on the Games Record of 43.04s.

Tobi Amusan led Nigeria to 4x100m relay gold

Liberia, with a team of former US athletes, settled for the silver medal and Ghana claimed bronze.

In the men's category, the quartet of Sunday Israel Okon, Consider Ekanem, Alaba Akintola, and Usheoritse Itsekiri ran a pulsating race to win the GOLD medal in a time of 38.41s.

Nigeria's gold medal-winning quartet of Usheoritse Itsekiri, Consider Ekanem, Israel Okon, and Alaba Akintola

Ghana settled for second in 38.43s, while Liberia also ran an impressive race for a new National Record of 38.73s.

Meanwhile, Esther Elo Joseph's effort of dropping her PB in the heats and semis paid off, running a blistering new best of 51.61s to claim the silver medal in the women's 400m final.

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