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Team Nigeria’s women 4x400m relay team will be among the 16 nations that will file out for the event at the Tokyo Olympics after scorching to a 3:26.84 African lead Thursday at the Lagos Open Athletics Championship in Lagos.
The team, anchored by Patience Okon-George, has now jumped to the front of the queue for the four available slots on offer for the event in Tokyo.
Also made up of the trio of the world’s fastest U-18 girl, Imaobong Nse Uko; NCAA 200m finalist Favour Ofili, and Knowledge Omovoh, Team Nigeria are now ranked 13th in the ranking for the best 16 nations that will be in Tokyo, ahead of Belarus (3:28.14), Australia (3:28.64) and Switzerland (3:28.77), who have all provisionally qualified.
The 4x400m team has now
become the second Nigerian relay team to qualify for the Olympics after the women’s 4x100m team, led by Blessing Okagbare, sealed their passage to the games with a 42.97s run at the National Championship (Olympic Trials) last Thursday at the sports ground of Yaba College of Technology (YabaTech), Lagos.
Nigeria won a silver medal in the 1600m relay 25 years ago at the Atlanta Olympics where Falilat Ogunkoya led Charity Opara, Bisi Afolabi and Fatimah Yusuf to also set a new 3:21.04s African record.
The men’s 4x100m team however failed to make it despite improving to 38.59 seconds.
The men’s 4x400m team also failed to qualify but will, together with the 4x100m and 4x400m mixed relay teams get their final chance to book their flights to Tokyo at the Making Of Champions Relays on Sunday at YabaTech.
