It was a disappointing Friday as Team Nigeria once again lost the opportunity to secure any medal when World Record holder in 100m Hurdles, Tobi Amusan, failed to reach 100m Hurdles final at the Paris Olympics after coming third in the first semi-final of the event and Nigeria’s 4x400m men’s relay team got disqualified for the final.
Tobi Amusan who posted in a time of 12.55 seconds and waited to check the outcomes of the two other semi-finals to see if she would scrape through crashed out as the third semi-final produced two athletes who came third and fourth to better her performance.
Amusan came into global limelight when she set a new record in the women’s 100 meters hurdles at the 2022 world championships in Eugene, Oregon, United States after posting 12.12 seconds, breaking the previous record 12.20 seconds set by American Kendra Harrison in 2016 and becoming the first Nigeria’s world record holder in an athletics event.
On their own, the 4x400m men’s relay team comprising the quartet of Emmanuel Ojeli, Ezekiel Nathaniel, Dubem Amene and Chidi Okezie finished heat 2 with a Season’s Best time of 2 minutes 59.81 seconds to emerge second but got disqualified having been adjudged that one of the Nigerian runners crossed lanes and that led to the tripping of a South African runner.
France won the race in 2 minutes 59.53 seconds with Belgium taking the 3rd automatic spot in 2 minutes 59.84 seconds and Nigeria’s spot was given to South Africa.
