• As Okwose completes sprint doubles
By Monica Iheakam
Team Nigeria’s athletes have continued to reign supreme at the ongoing Confederation of African Athletics Under 18 and Under 20 Championships in Ndola, Zambia.
Faith Okwose Tuesday evening completed a sprint double with a win in the girls 200m U-18 category, powering to a new personal best of 23.31s(-0.2) to take gold.
This win came barely 24 hours after she gave Nigeria gold in the U 18 100m race in a time of 11.53s.
Eyakpobeyan Justina Tiana settled for bronze in 23.60s in the same race. She was edged by Vermeulen Chane who took the silver in 23.49s.
The women’s triple jump produced two gold medals for Team Nigeria thanks to Njoma Fejiro who leapt to 12.69m in the U-18 category, while her compatriot, Grace Oshiokpu recorded the best jump of the day to clinch gold in 13.03m in the U-20 event.
Iheakolam Joel’s efforts in the U20 men’s triple jump earned Team Nigeria another silver with a mark of 15.72m and went ahead to grab bronze in the 110mh.
Not stopping in the medals rush, the U20 mixed 4x400m quartet of Badejo Emmanuel, Queen Osunobun, Ajayi Bamidele, and Opeyemi Oke gave a very good account of themselves, grabbing the silver medal behind team South Africa who won the race.
Ochonogor Prestina Oluchi equalled her personal best of 6.00m which she recorded at the 2022 NSF to take the silver medal in the women’s U18 long jump final.
Team Nigeria is in Zambia with 42 athletes and 10 officials for the championship running from April 28 to May 5, 2023.