Glory Onome Nathaniel on Monday evening at the Olympic stadium in London made it a dream IAAF World Championships debut as she ran a new personal best of 55.30 seconds to qualify for the semi-final of the women’s 400m hurdles.
The Nigerian, drawn in lane 3 of the fifth and final heat of the first round was impressive as she placed third to pick one of the four automatic slots on offer for a place in Tuesday’s semi-final.
She has thus become the fifth Nigerian woman after Maria Usifo (1987),Omolade Akinremi (1995),Muizat Ajoke Odumosu (2009 and 2011) and Amaka Ogoegbunam (2009) to qualify for the semi-final of the event.
No Nigerian has made it to the final of the event in the history of the championships.
Meanwhile, reigning African triple jump champion,Tosin Oke Monday at the Olympic stadium in London failed to hop,step and jump into the final of the event on Day 4 of action at the 16th IAAF World Championships.
Oke, finalist at the 15th edition of the championships two years ago in Beijing,China jumped 16.17m,83cm short of the 17.00m qualifying mark set for the event and will now watch the final as a spectator on Thursday night.
The performance was the former British junior international’s worst since he made his debut at the championships in 2009 in the Berlin,Germans.There he jumped
16.87m which fetched him the 16th spot in the final ranking and only 9cm short of making the final.
He failed to show up in 2013 but jumped his way into the final two years later before placing eighth in the final classification.