World and Olympics long jump bronze medallist Ese Brume tops the list of six athletes the Athletics Federation of Nigeria has announced for the World Athletics Indoor Championships, which holds from March 18 to 20 in Belgrade, Serbia.
Others on the list are Ruth Usoro, the reigning NCAA indoor champion in the triple jump and the 4x400m quartet of Sikiru Adeyemi, Ifeanyi Ojeli, Nathaniel Samson and Timothy Emeoghene.
Brume, competing in her first World Indoor Championships, will be aspiring to become the second Nigerian woman, after Glory Alozie, to win medals at both the indoor and outdoor World Athletics Championships.
Alozie won a silver medal in the 100m hurdles at the World Indoor Championships inside the Green Dome in Maebashi, Japan and also at the World Outdoor Championships in Seville, Spain, both in 1999.
Brume has not competed indoors since February 2020, but the 25 year old, who set a new 7.17m African outdoor mark last May, will be Nigeria’s biggest hope for a in Belgrade.
Usoro, like Brume will also be competing in her first World Indoor Championships, a year after conquering the NCAA indoor and outdoor.
Unlike Brume, the 24-year-old has competed indoors this year and will be in action this weekend at the NCAA Championships in Birmingham, Alabama where she will be hoping to add the long jump title to the triple jump she won last year.
Usoro holds a personal season’s best of 6.59m in the long jump and 13.66m in the triple jump.
Nigeria has won a total of 11 medals: two gold (Sunday Bada, 400m in 1997 and Olusoji Fasuba, 60m in 2008), six silver and three bronze medals at the world indoor championships.
Long jumper Paul Emordi won Nigeria’s first medal in the history of the championships when he leapt 8.01m to win the silver medal at its inaugural edition at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, USA in 1987.
The late Sunday Bada remains the only Nigerian to have won multiple medals in the history of the championships after winning silver medals in the 400m event in 1993 and 1995, before becoming the first Nigerian to be crowned World Indoor champion in 1997 in Paris, France. Copyright PUNCH.
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