Get Guardian on GoogleNigeria’s hope of having its men’s 4x100m relay team at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, went up in flames following Jamaica’s 37.80s win at the London Diamond League on Saturday.
The country’s quartets were knocked out of the automatic qualification zone as Jamaican quartet of Rohan Watson, Oblique Seville, Kadrian Goldson, and Kishane Thompson stormed to victory at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, finishing ahead of Great Britain (38.08s) and the Netherlands (38.17s).
Their winning time means that Jamaica has now moved into 15th place on the global rankings list — moving Nigeria, previously 16th, into the danger zone with a time of 38.20s, which they ran at the Paris 2024 Olympics last year.
Nigeria had missed the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China, earlier this year, the main qualification event for relay teams, due to visa glitches.
With four other relay squads — women’s 4x100m (17th), women’s 4x400m (19th), men’s 4x400m (22nd), and mixed 4x400m (17th) — already outside the automatic spots, the men’s 4x100m had been Nigeria’s only hope. But with Jamaica now joining the list of qualified teams, that hope is fading fast.
Nigeria will now rely on late-season meets or a possible reallocation to sneak into the final qualification slots — if no faster times are recorded by other teams. Teams ahead of Nigeria include traditional relay powerhouses like the USA, South Africa, Japan, Canada, and Great Britain, all of whom secured their places through the designated qualification competition in China.
Only two teams, Jamaica and the Netherlands, now 16th, are in the qualification zone via the top list outside of Guangzhou. Brazil (38.40s), Trinidad and Tobago (38.46s), and Botswana (38.49s) follow Nigeria closely and could overtake if they post better times in upcoming races.
