Paris Olympics: All eyes on Brume, as Nigeria’s 4x100m men/women relay quartets crash out
Nigerian athletics officials are optimistic Ese Brume can rescue a medal for Nigeria in the final of the Paris 2024 women’s long jump later tonight.
Brume was a bronze medal winner in the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. It was the year she broke the African long jump record with a 7.17m effort, however, she has struggled to break 6. 99m since then.
But in a women’s long jump that is unpredictable, Brume can dig deep into her reserve and come with a big jump to crown all her years of hard work. An Olympic gold medal will be a fitting achievement for the four-time African champion.
The field is loaded with lots of competitors in the likes of Malaika Mihambo, the German who is defending the title from Tokyo 2020. She has the world-leading jump of 7.22m and Tara Davis-Woodhall who also has a season’s best of 7.18m.
Ruth Usoro and Prestina Ochonogor are the other Nigerians amid the contest and hopefully, they can have a respectful performance.
In the heats of the 4x100m relays Thursday morning, Favour Ashe, Kayinsola Ajayi, Alaba Akintola and Itseoritse Itsekiri ran 38.20 Season’s best in the heat won by USA with 37.47 seconds, Akani Simbine powered the South African team to a 37.94secs, while Britain finished third in the qualifying heat with a 38.04 season’s best.
In the women’s heats, Justina Tiana Eyakpobeyan, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chwukwuma and Tima Godbless posted 42.70 secs season’s best to narrowly miss the final. The USA women’s team are top contenders for the title having posted 41.94 seconds, the fastest time of the heats while Great Britain had the second fastest time of 42.03seconds
