GB’s Azu wins 60m gold, eyes on Nigeria’s Ochonogor to leap into history books

Great Britain’s Jeremiah Azu sprinted to 60m gold in a dramatic photo finish at the World Athletics Indoor Championships to secure the first global title of his career.

Within two weeks of his triumph at the European indoors, the 23-year-old announced himself as a world champion by equalling that personal best performance of 6.49 seconds.

It saw him cross the line one hundredth of a second ahead of Australian Lachlan Kennedy, who was initially shown as the winner on the big screen in Nanjing, China.

World Indoor gold has added a stunning conclusion to a whirlwind month for Azu, who celebrated the birth of his son just one week before claiming his first individual international title on the European stage.

Azu had his hands on his head as his name flashed up in second place, but the Briton was soon sprinting away in ecstatic celebration when his victory was confirmed.

“I knew I could win it. I said at the Europeans I want to take over the world. This is just the start of our journey,” an emotional Azu told BBC Sport.

“The plan is to keep on winning. The sky isn’t the limit – there is way, way more than that. Let’s see what the summer brings – I’m excited for it.”

Meanwhile, Nigerians will be hoping on long jumper, Prestina Ochonogo, to produce a winning leap at the championships. The Paris 2024 long jump finalist is expected to make the best leap of her career as she bids to win a medal in the horizontal jump. Team Nigeria, made up of nine athletes and two officials, was expected to depart for China since on Wednesday.

According to an update from World Athletics sent to The Guardian, Nanjing 2025, which started on Friday, will be an unforgettable championship, as 11 defending champions and 20 Olympic medallists from Paris 2024 will compete. There are 576 athletes from 127 countries in the event.

Since Nigeria made its debut in the competition in 1985, only the 60m (men) and long jump (men and women) have produced three different medalists respectively. Nigeria has won more 400m (men and women) medals.

The trio of Chidi Imoh, Davidson Ezinwa and Olusoji Fasuba all won medals in the 60m event, while Paul Emordi, Chioma Ajunwa and Ese Brume won in the long jump.

In the 400m, one man, Sunday Bada (now late) won three of the four medals (a gold and two silver medals) with Falilat Ogunkoya the last medal winner in the event.

At just 18, Ochonogor’s geometrical leap from a 6m jumper in 2022 and 2023 to 6.79m in 2024, as well as her consistent jump over 6.60m (five, last year) and which helped in lifting her to the Paris 2024 Olympic final, shows the Nigerian is capable of delivering a huge jump.

According to SportsNow.com.ng, Ochonogor will need to deliver more than the 6.64m she has done this year and probably jump more than her 6.79m lifetime best achieved early last year to guarantee her a place in the podium.

With world leader at 7.07m, Malaika Mihambo and reigning champion, Tara Davis-Woodhall absent, the Nigerian will battle for the three places on offer at the podium with two of the medalists in the last edition, Monae’ Nichols of the USA (6.73m SB) and Spain’s Fátima Diame (6.73m SB) as well as the duo of Anthaya Charlton of the Bahamas (6.98 PB and SB) and Annik Kalin of Switzerland (6.90m PB and SB).

All eyes will be on Ochonogor to step into the big shoes of recuperating Ese Brume, who is the last Nigerian long jumper to leap to the podium at the Championship.