The 24th African Senior Athletics Championships began yesterday in Accra, Ghana, with many of the continent’s biggest names missing from the event.
 
Over the years, Africa’s finest athletes, including Olympic and World Championships’ medalists, have often chosen to bypass the competition to chase the Golden League jackpot.

This 24th edition is no different.
 
The lure of the Wanda Diamond League, which begins this weekend in Shanghai/Keqiao, has drawn away several of Africa’s brightest stars.
 
Kenya’s Mercy Adongo Oketch, a 400m runner with a season’s best of 50.14, will be in China rather than Ghana. In the distance events, double Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon is confirmed for Shanghai in the 5000m, alongside Ethiopia’s Medina Eisa. The women’s steeplechase will also miss its top names, with Uganda’s Olympic champion Peruth Chemutai, Kenya’s world junior champion Faith Cherotich, and Tunisia’s Marwa Bouzayani all opting for the Diamond League.    
 
The men’s middle-distance races will be without Botswana’s Kethobogile Haingura and Kenya’s Wyclife Kinyamal, both confirmed for Shanghai in the 800m.
   
The sprints are similarly depleted, with South Africa’s Gift Leotlela and Akani Simbine, Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, and Botswana’s Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo all choosing the Diamond League over Accra. Ethiopia’s teenage sensation Birke Haylom, who has already run 3:53.22 in the 1500m, is another notable absentee.
 
However, Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan stands out as the exception. A former World Championships and Diamond League champion and the reigning world record holder in the 100m hurdles, she has consistently answered the African call and will be the headline act in Accra.
 
Her presence underscores her loyalty to the continental stage, even as many of her peers head elsewhere. But some Nigerian athletics followers are of the opinion that Amusan should have been left out to give the younger ones a chance to prove themselves.
 
The Guardian gathered yesterday that on discovering that most of the top stars were not competing in the championship, many Ghanaian fans decided to stay away from the Accra stadium.
 
The men’s and women’s 100m and 400m races opened the competition yesterday morning, but the usual noise from the stands was missing.
 
Among athletes representing Nigeria in the men’s 100m are 2021 Olympic finalist Enoch Adegoke.
 
Although he is not considered the favourite, his task is made lighter by the absence of heavyweights such as former champions Akani Simbine and Ferdinand Omanyala, and Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo.
 
According to sportsnow.com, Nigeria has not celebrated a men’s 100m champion since Olusoji Fasuba’s historic hat-trick, completed in 2008.
  
On the women’s side, Rosemary Chukwuma leads a formidable contingent that includes Miracle Ezechukwu and Maria Thompson Omokwe.
 
Chukwuma, the African leader with a season-best 10.95, enters as the overwhelming favourite to reclaim Nigeria’s crown in the event. Nigeria last celebrated a women’s 100m champion in 2014, when Blessing Okagbare won her second title in Marrakech, Morocco.
  
The redemption narrative extends to the 400m. Nigeria’s men have endured a 28-year drought since Clement Chukwu stormed to gold in Dakar in 1998 with a then-Championship record of 44.65. Chidi Okezie, bronze medalist in 2018, will lead the charge. He rewrote history two years ago on the same track, becoming the first Nigerian in 38 years to win the African Games 400m title after Innocent Egbunike’s 1987 triumph.
 
For the women, veteran Patience Okon George anchors Nigeria’s hopes. A bronze medalist 10 years ago, she now seeks to upgrade to gold and become only the second Nigerian woman in 12 years to win the African 400m crown after Folashade Abugan. Okon George, with a season’s best of 51.70, will look to summon her experience in what could be her final bid for continental glory.
 
Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, who is on the world’s top 10 list in shot put, is not competing in Accra. His name was missing from the start list yesterday.
 
But Nigeria is still present in the shot put event with 17-year-old Emmanuel Audu, who enters with a personal best of 17.85m set in February.
 
Audu faces a monumental challenge, requiring a ‘miracle’  to reach the podium and step into Enekwechi’s shoes.
  
Amaechi Obiageri headlined Nigeria’s charge yesterday, and she is the clear favourite to deliver gold in the discus throw.
 
For Obiageri, the women’s discus throw final represents a personal and national milestone.

After securing bronze in 2022 and silver in 2024, she now aims to complete the medal set with gold in 2026.
 
A win would extend Nigeria’s tradition of excellence in the event, a legacy dating back to Chinwe Okoro’s victory in 2012 that ended South Africa’s Elizna Naude’s streak of four consecutive titles.