Nigeria Relay Teams Fail to Qualify for World Championships

Nigeria’s relay hopes for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan suffered a major blow as none of the country’s teams met the required qualifying standards at the CAA Region II Senior Athletics Championships in Accra, Ghana.

Despite clinching double gold medals in the men’s and women’s 4x100m relays, as well as victories in the 4x400m events, the performances fell short of the benchmark needed to secure tickets to Tokyo.

On Tuesday morning at the University of Ghana Sports Complex, Nigeria’s men’s 4x400m team led by Gafari Badmus stormed to gold in 3:05.22, ahead of Ghana’s 3:06.34. However, the result was well outside the 2:59.12 qualifying mark, leaving the team in danger of missing out.

Coach Tony Osheku lamented the absence of key runners:

“All we needed was a 44 runner, but we didn’t have the luxury of bringing Samuel Ogazi and Chidi Okezie here. We could have made that mark. But our boys did their best. I’m sure if there is another opportunity for them to compete, they can make an improvement.”

The Nigerian men must now run at least 2:56.00 before the qualification deadline of August 24 to displace Zambia from the top-16 list.

In the women’s 4x400m, Patience Okon George produced an impressive 51.1 split, rediscovering her form after illness. Nigeria finished with 3:33.83, comfortably ahead of Ghana’s 3:46.63, but still far outside the qualification standard.

“Okon-George was remarkable in her lap. We are satisfied with their performance even though they couldn’t run what we desire.”

On Monday evening, Nigeria’s men’s 4x100m team claimed gold in 39.74 seconds, edging Ghana (39.75s) and Burkina Faso (40.95s). The women’s team also triumphed in 44.92s, defeating Burkina Faso (46.56s) and Ghana.

However, both times fell short of the global benchmarks. The Netherlands currently holds the final men’s qualifying slot with 37.87s, while Côte d’Ivoire’s 42.63s remains the women’s cutoff.

If no alternative meet is arranged before the August 24 qualification deadline, Nigeria risks missing out on all relay events at the 20th World Athletics Championships in Tokyo (September 2025).

Such an outcome would be unprecedented marking the first time since 1983 that Nigeria fails to feature in the relay events at the World Championships.

Sports247.ng