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Nigeria enjoyed a golden day in the shot put circle at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, with Chukwuebuka Enekwechi claiming the men’s title and debutant Jessica Oji stunning the field to take silver in the women’s event.
Enekwechi sealed the men’s gold with a winning throw of 21.07m, narrowly holding off New Zealand’s Tom Walsh (21.03m) for silver and England’s Scott Lincoln (20.99m) for bronze. The victory adds another prestigious title to Enekwechi’s growing medal collection and extends Team Nigeria’s gold rush at these Games.
Hours later, 19-year-old Jessica Oji delivered one of the standout stories of the Championships. Competing in her first major international outing for Nigeria, the Nigerian-American athlete launched a best throw of 17.87m to win silver — matching Jamaica’s Lloydricia Cameron’s distance exactly, before edging her on countback thanks to a stronger second-round attempt. Canada’s Sarah Mitton, a two-time World Indoor champion, took gold with 19.88m.
The result marks a historic milestone for Nigerian athletics: Oji is the first Nigerian woman to medal in the Commonwealth Games shot put since Vivian Chukwuemeka’s silver at Melbourne 2006, ending a two-decade drought in the event.
Oji’s rise has been rapid. A University of Pennsylvania student born in the United States, she smashed the Ivy League shot put record in December 2025 and went on to break it four more times. After officially switching allegiance to Nigeria in February 2026, she wasted little time announcing herself on the world stage — capping her collegiate dominance with a maiden Commonwealth Games medal.
Between them, Enekwechi and Oji have given Nigeria a shot put double to remember in Glasgow.
