Twenty-four hours after Nigeria’s men’s and women’s relay teams failed to qualify for the World Championships’ 4x100m event at the ongoing African Region 2 Championships in Accra, Ghana, their 4x400m counterparts also missed the target yesterday.
 
This means that Nigeria’s relay teams will not feature at the Tokyo 2025 World Championships unless the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) finds another meet for the athletes to try their luck before the qualification window closes on August 24.  
 
If Team Nigeria misses the relay events at the 20th World Athletics championships in Tokyo, Japan, in September, it will be the first time ever in the history of the country’s participation in the championships since 1983.
  
Yesterday in Accra, Nigeria’s 4x400m men could only run 3.05.22 seconds, which placed them outside the qualifying mark of 2:59.12 seconds. Hosts, Ghana, were second in 3.06.34secs.
 
In the women’s 4×400 race, Nigeria ran 3.33.83 seconds, which was far outside the required standard to pick the ticket to Tokyo. Ghana ran 3:46.63 secs.
 
Many stakeholders view Nigeria’s failure to pick a single relay ticket as inexplicable, as the country possesses one of the fastest quartets in the world this season.
 
The team of Samuel Ogazi, Nathaniel Ezekiel, Chidi Okezie, and Edidiong Udo, each boasting personal bests between 44.4 and 45.1 seconds, was widely expected not only to qualify but to contend for a podium finish in Tokyo. As it stands, they will likely watch from the sidelines.
  
On Monday evening in Accra, Team Nigeria won double gold in the men’s and women’s 4x100m relays, but the performance fell short of meeting the qualification standard required for Tokyo.
 
In the men’s 4x100m final, Nigeria’s quartet stormed to victory with a time of 39.74 seconds, narrowly edging out host nation, Ghana, which clocked 39.75 seconds. Burkina Faso followed with 40.95 seconds to claim bronze.
 
While the win was emphatic, the time fell short of the 37.94 national record and did not surpass the 37.87 mark posted by the Netherlands, which currently holds the final qualifying spot for Tokyo.
 
The women’s team mirrored the men’s success, blazing to gold in 44.92 seconds ahead of Burkina Faso (46.56s) and Ghana (bronze).  The performance was not enough to displace Cote d’Ivoire’s 42.63 seconds, which stands as the benchmark for the last available qualification slot.
 
The Guardian recalls that at the AFN National trial in Lagos, two weeks ago, the 4x400m relay team posted a subpar 3:03.66—well outside the qualifying mark of 2:59.12sec.