IT was not a good morning for Nigeria on the tracks today in France as the country’s 4x100m relay teams for both men and women were eliminated within few minutes of each other.
To make matters worse, Edose Ibadin was also unable to reach the 800m final after finishing seventh in his repechage heat.
First to bow out this morning at the Stade de France was the Team Nigeria 4x100m women’s quartet of Justina Eyakpobeyan, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma and Tima Godbless.
They finished sixth in heat 2 despite running a season’s best of 42.70 seconds and are out of the final.
Great Britain won the heat in 42.03s, followed by France in 42.13s and Jamaica in 42.35s.
The men’s quartet of Favour Ashe, Kanyinsola Ajayi, Alaba Akintola and Usheoritse Itsekiri soon followed their compatriots out of reckoning.
They finished seventh in 38.20s, their season’s best time.
United States of America finished first in the race in 37.47s, with South Africa coming second in a season’s best time of 37.94s and Great Britain third in 38.04s.
One of the pre-Games favourites Jamaica, who hold the Olympic record and won gold in 2012 and 2016, also failed to reach the final after coming fourth in heat 2 in 38.45s.
In the 800m repechage, a second chance for some athletes to advance, Ibadin was a disappointing seventh in 1 minute 49.09 seconds, in a race won by Botswana’s Kethobogile Haingura in 1:45.53s.
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