It was a bad day in the office for Nigerian athletes on Friday at the ongoing World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, after the men and women’s 4x100m relay team failed to qualify for the finals of their respective events, Saturday PUNCH reports.
In a keenly contested men’s semi-final which the Olympic champions Italy won with a time of 37.65secs, the quartet Favour Ashe, Usheoritse Itsekiri, Alaba Akintola and Seye Ogunlewe set a new season’s best of 38.20secs but it was not enough to earn the team a place in the final as they finished fifth.
The Italians were inspired by Tokyo individual gold medallist Lamont Jacobs who ran a barnstorming second leg.
South Africa finished second with a time of 37.71secs to also qualify with Britain overhauling Canada on the last leg for the third automatic qualifying spot as the holders failed to make the final.
South Africa’s team of Shaun Maswangnayi, Benjamin Richardson, Clarence Munyai, and Akani Simbine also set a new season’s best.
In the women’s 4x100m relay event, the Nigerian team did not finish the race in their heat in Budapest, as the baton never got past the lead off by Justina Eyakpobeyan.
Meanwhile, Ivory Coast shattered the African Record set by Nigeria last year as they ran a blistering 41.90secs to place second in the heat and advance to the final. They became the first African team to break the 42 seconds record in the event.
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