African triple jump champion, Tosin Oke, along with his compatriot, Olu Olamigoke, on Monday crashed out of the men’s triple jump event of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, Blessing Okagbare, who crashed of the women’s 100m at the semifinal stage, will compete in the semifinals of the 200m on Tuesday after she won her heat on Monday.
Oke, who won gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, jumped 16.47m to finish 23rd in the final rankings while Olamigoke jumped 16.10m to finish 32nd in the final rankings.
Olamigoke, who competed in Group A, got his jump in his first attempt while he jumped 15.93m and 15.64m in his second and third attempts to exit the competition. Oke competed in Group B and had his first attempt cancelled before he jumped 16.45m in the second attempt and 16.47m in the third attempt.
World leader, USA’s Christian Taylor, leads the medal chase in the event with a qualifying jump of 17.24m while Chinese Bin Dong follows with a 17.10m jump. USA’s Will Claye is the third of 16 jumpers in the final. He qualified with a jump of 17.05m.
Oke won the Durban 2016 African Championships gold medal in the event with a jump of 17.13m.
Okagbare, finished first in heat five of the 200m in 22.71secs to qualify for the semifinal. The Nigerian champion will be seeking to make the final after missing out on a medal place in the 100m won by Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson.
She will compete in the heat one of the semifinals along with Holland’s Dafne Schippers, Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson, Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith and Germany’s Lisa Mayer.
Divine Oduduru will compete in the men’s 200m heat on Tuesday against men’s 100m champion Usain Bolt and others in Heat 9.
Also out of the Olympics is quarter mile barrier runner Miles Ukaoma, who failed to hurdle past the first round.
