Paris Olympics: Nigeria Qualifies For Men And Women’s 4×100m Relays

By Gyang Dakwo

Nigeria’s men and women’s 4x100m relay squads have successfully booked their tickets to the Paris Olympic Games on the second day at the World Relays in the Bahamas.

Motivated by the disappointment of not securing their spots in Paris on Day 1, the teams maximized their repechage (heat for first round losers) opportunities to get the job done and ensure Nigeria would leave with four out of five tickets from the Bahamas.

For the men’s 4×100m quartet, this means a historic return to the Olympics after a 16-year absence.

The quartet of Udodi Onwuzurike, Consider Ekanem, Alaba Akintola, and Seye Ogunlewe were initially denied a qualification spot after narrowly missing out by placing 4th with a time of 38.47s on Day 1, but the story changed on Day 2 as the team crossed the line in second place (38.57s) behind Ghana with a time of 38.29s while Dominican Republic was 3rd in 39.16s.

The women’s 4x100m quartet of Justina Eyakpobeyan, Favour Ofili, Olayinka Olajide and Tima Godbless stormed to victory in their heat in a time of 42.71s to qualify.

Switzerland finished 2nd in 42.75s, while China placed 3rd in 43.13s.

Nigeria did not feature in the women’s 4×400m because it could not make up a complete team due to the absence of Omolara Ogunmakinju.

Races Nigeria qualified for at the 2 day event;
Men’s 4x100m
Men’s 4x400m
Women’s 4x100m
Mixed 4x400m

End