Oregon 2022: Amusan, Brume remain medal hopefuls as Nigeria 4x100m women team crash despite new record

Jul 24, 2022 - 09:33 Updated: Jul 24, 2022 - 06:45

Ese Brume

Team Nigeria quartet of Joy Udo-Gabriel, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwa and Grace Nwokocha failed to make the podium on Saturday at the ongoing World Athletics Championships as they finished fourth behind winners the USA, second Jamaica and third Germany.

There was however something to cheer about as the quartet posted a time of 42.22s to break the long-standing 42.39s National/African Record set by their compatriots, Christy Opara-Thompson, Faith Idehen, Beatrice Utondu and Mary Onyali, at the Barcelona 92 Olympics.

All hopes of a podium finish for Team Nigeria now rest on three athletes who are in the final of their respective events.

Ese Brume and Ruth Usoro will be competing with 10 other athletes for three medals at stake in the final of the women’s long jump.

This is Brume’s second appearance in the final after three trips to World Athletics’ flagship event. In 2017 in London, the 26-year-old did not make it to the final but leapt 6.89m in the qualifying round two years later to qualify for her first final.

In the final, she leapt a distance of 6.91m in the second round, which put her in the gold medal position, before the duo of Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk and Malaika Mihambo of Germany leapt farther (6.92m and 7.30m respectively) to win the silver and the gold medal.

Brume will now be seeking to become the first Nigerian to win two medals at back-to-back editions of the Championships.

For Usoro, she broke a record by competing in both the triple jump and long jump events at the same championships, making her the first Nigerian, male or female, to do so.

The 24-year-old had to rely on her third and final leap (6.69m) to ensure her passage into her first World Athletics Championships final after opening with a foul and 6.25m in the second round.