The 20th edition of World Athletics Championships will officially begin this Saturday in Tokyo, Japan, with 15 Nigerian athletes seeking podium finish.
This is the third time the event is holding in Japan, and in two previous editions held in 1991 in Tokyo and in 2007 in Osaka, Nigeria failed to win a single medal.
The 11th edition in 2007, which took place at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, had the greatest number of competitors at any World Championships to date, with a total of 1,978 athletes. Nigerian athletes failed to make any podium appearance, and in 1991, Nigeria’s best achievement was Davidson Ezinwa getting to the quarterfinal in 100m.
Before then, Nigeria’s only medal was a bronze in the triple jump by Ajayi Agbebaku at the inaugural World Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 1983.
Nigeria’s best moment came at Oregon in 2022, where Tobiloba Amusan won a gold and also set a World Record (12.12m in the 100m hurdles), while Ese Brume grabbed a silver in the long jump. But two years ago in Budapest, Hungary, Team Nigeria returned without a medal.
The stage is set once again, and Commonwealth Games bronze medalist in the discus throw event, Obiageri Pamela Amaechi, will open Nigeria’s campaign for a return to the podium at the 20th edition this Saturday, just as Onyekwere-Lyons, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, Presitna Ochonogor, Ese Brume and Rosemary Chukwuma are also expected to be in action on Day 1.
Amaechi has been given the task to set the team on the right path by qualifying for the final of the discus event, which would be a first by a Nigerian this Saturday. The reigning African Games champion has been drawn in the first of two qualifying groups and will compete ahead of reigning Commonwealth Games champion, Chioma Onyekwere-Lyons.
If Amaechi is able to fulfil expectations, it will certainly take the pressure off Onyekwere-Lyons, when she competes later this Saturday. She is the African record holder in the event (64.96m). Onyekwere-Lyons is no stranger to throwing the discus above 64.00m. This year, she holds a 64.12m personal season’s best, the second season she has hit the 60m mark.
Both Amaechi and Onyekwere-Lyons could make double history like they did at the Commonwealth Games when they both made it to the podium.
They are not the only Nigerians in action on the first day of competition.
Another field eventer, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, will also be in action as he bids to make up for the disappointment of not making it to the Diamond League final.
Two years ago, in Budapest, Enekwechi failed to throw himself into his third straight final in the history of the Championships. This time around, he will be keen to throw himself back into the final and into the final eight, like he did on his debut in 2019.
Ese Brume and Prestina Ochonogor will complete the roster for the field events on the first day of action.
Ochonogor, the reigning African U20 champion and Paris Olympic finalist, will begin the battle to become the third long jumper to make it to the podium after Blessing Okagbare and Brume.
For her to do that, Ochonogor has to jump her way into the final, and a repeat of her 6.79m personal best can do the magic. She has been drawn in a group where two jumpers have hit above the 7m mark, three above 6.90m, and a few others above 6.80m and 6.70m.
Soft-speaking Ese Brume will compete in the second qualifying group and should find herself in her fourth straight final if she can repeat her 6.79m personal season’s best. Brume finished fourth two years ago in Budapest.
There will also be three Nigerians on the track on the opening day of competition (Saturday). Rosemary Chukwuma will try her luck in the 100m heats, where she has been drawn in lane 7 in the second of seven opening-round heats, with four athletes standing in her way to a second straight semifinal appearance in the 100m.
The Nigerian will have to battle Ewa Swoboda of Poland, one of the Jamaican sprint sensations, Tina Clayton (10.81 SB), veteran Briton Dina Asher-Smith (10.93 SB), and Portugal’s Lorène Dorcas Bazolo.
Pre-Championships medal hopes, Tobi Amusan and Ezekiel Nathaniel will be in on Day 2 and Day 3 respectively. While Amusan will compete on Sunday, Nathaniel will run on Day 3 (Monday).
With AFN’s failure to qualify Nigeria in five relay events (the first time in history of the championships), the nation’s campaign will be over on Day 7 of the nine days of action with the men’s 400m hurdles and 200m finals to be decided.
