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Ese Brume, Favour Ofili and Favour Ashe headlined the first quarter of 2022 Nigeria Athletics season.
It is imminent saying Nigeria Athletics rose to an all-time high this season, following the outstanding performances produced by the athletes at major championships.
From college athletes in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) to the senior athletes in the professional circuit and at international championships, Nigerians and athletics enthusiasts globally were thrilled to many now saying ‘the glory days of the sport in Nigeria are back.’
Major championships such as the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, African Championships in Mauritius, World Championships in Oregon, and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, were dominated or huge statements were made by Nigerian athletes.
With the season officially over, this is the review of the 2022 Nigeria Athletics season in the first quarter, featuring the NCAA Indoor Championships and World Indoor Championships.
NCAA Indoor Championships
The Championship took place in Birmingham, USA from March 11-12, which had the best of college athletes compete in preparation for the outdoor championships.
Nigerian college athletes that participated gave good accounts of themselves, as Favour Ofili of Louisiana State University topped the list by winning the women's 200m Silver medal with a time of 22.50s. She also qualified for the 60m final but placed 7th in the race.
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Favour Ashe did it for his school, the University of Tennessee in the men's 60m final securing the Bronze medal, running a time of 6.55s.
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Other athletes with good performances finished in the top seven of their various events. They are: Ruth Usoro (Texas Tech University) fifth-place finish in the women’s Long Jump final, Emmanuel Ineh (University of Alabama), a fifth-place finish in the men’s Long Jump final, Isaac Odugbesan (University of Alabama) was seventh in the men’s Shot Put final, and Best Erhire (Middle Tennessee State University), seventh place in the men’s High Jump final.
Noteworthy is that Ofili ran an indoor 200m Personal Best (PB) and African Record (AR) of 22.46s, while Ashe also ran an indoor 60m PB of 6.51s, in the heats at the championship in Birmingham.
World Indoor Championships, Belgrade
A few days after the NCAA Indoor Championships, attention shifted to the World Indoor Championships only six athletes donned the Nigerian colors. The athletes are Ese Brume and Ruth Usoro in the women’s Long Jump, while Sikiru Adewale, Timothy Emoghene, Ifeanyi Ojeli, and Samson Nathaniel competed in the men’s 4x400m.
As expected, Brume was the only medallist as she leapt to a Season Best (SB) of 6.85m to win the Silver medal. Doing this, she became the country’s first world indoor medallist in fourteen years, since Olusoji Fasuba last won the 60m title in 2008.
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Usoro gave a good performance in her first major championships, making the final rounds of the jump and finished in eighth place, also with a SB of 6.69m. The men’s 4x400m quartet did not qualify for the final and finished in tenth place overall.
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Both indoor championships paved the way for what to expect from the athletes for the rest of the season.
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