TEAM Nigeria earned two spots in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games from the World Athletics Relays event on the opening day in Nassau, Bahamas in the early hours of today.
The country qualified for the men’s 4x400m and the mixed 4x400m relays, and could still secure men’s and women’s 4x100m berths.
The first ticket earned by Team Nigeria was in the mixed 4x400m through the quartet of Samuel Ogazi, Ella Onojuvwevwo, Chidi Okezie and Esther Elo Joseph.
The Nigerians finished second in their heat in a time of 3 minutes 13.79 seconds to earn one of the two automatic slots along with Team USA, who won the race in a Championship record of 3:11.52.
The Team Nigeria men’s 4x400m quartet of Dubem Nwachukwu, Dubem Amene, Adewale Sikiru and Chidi Okezie also finished second to claim their Paris 2024 Olympics ticket.
They clocked a season’s best of 3:01.74 to come second in their heat behind Belgium, who finished in 3:00.09.
However, the Team Nigeria quartet of Udodi Onwuzuruike, Consider Ekanem, Alaba Akintola and Seye Ogunlewe could only finish fourth in their 4x100m heat in a time of 38.47s, two places behind the automatic qualifying spots.
They still have a chance to book a Paris 2024 ticket as they compete in round 2 tomorrow, and a top two finish in their heat would guarantee passage to the Games.
Also, Team Nigeria’s Justina Eyakpobeyan, Favour Ofili, Olayinka Olajide and Tima Godbless narrowly missed out on an automatic ticket in the women’s 4x100m as they finished third in their heat in 43.15s.
United States of America won the race in 42.21s, with France narrowly edging ahead of Nigeria to claim second place in 43.09s.
