Nigeria quartet of Ofili, Chukwuma, Udo-Gabriel and Nwokocha clocked 42.22 seconds, breaking 30-year-old African record of 42.39 seconds but came 4th
By Kehinde Okeowo
Nigeria’s 4×100 meters women’s relay team came fourth at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, the United States of America despite breaking the African record.
The quartet of Joy Udo-Gabriel, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma and Grace Nwokocha clocked 42.22 seconds, breaking the 30-year-old African record of 42.39 seconds.
The obliterated record was set in the Barcelona 1992 Olympics, by the Nigerian bronze medal-winning team of Beatrice Utondu, Faith Idehen, Christy Opara-Thompson, and Mary Onyali.
Despite the record-breaking effort this year by the Nigerian girls, they missed out on the podium as they were beaten to bronze by Germany, who paraded Tatjana Pinto, Alexandra Burghardt, Gina Iückenkemper and Rebekka Haase to clock season’s best of 42.03 seconds.
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Host nation, USA parading Melissa Jefferson, Abby Steiner, Jenna Prandini, and Twanisha Terry blazed to a world lead of 41.14 seconds and shocked favourites Jamaica in winning the gold medal.
The Jamaicans featuring Kemba Nelson, double-double Olympic champion, Elaine Thompson-Herah, 5-time world100 meters champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and the fastest woman alive over 200 meters, Shericka Jackson settled for silver after clocking a season’s best of 41.18 seconds.
Nigeria is yet to win a medal in the women’s 4×100 meters at the world championships with fourth place being the country’s best placement in the event to date.
Meanwhile, Nigerian hurdler, Tobi Amusan, puts the country on the world map after breaking the 100m hurdles’ world record twice in just over an hour at the same competition.
Jamaica’s Britany Anderson took silver in 12.23sec, while Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico claimed bronze in 12.23.
