World Athletics U20: Two Nigerians among athletes tipped to make the headline in Colombia

Team Nigeria budding athletics stars, Udodi Onwuzurike and Imaobong Nse-Uko are among the rising stars tipped by the World Athletics to compete for podium places at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali, Colombia from August 1-6, 2022.  

With just one year between the Nairobi 2021 World Athletics U-20 and Cali 2022, World Athletics U-20 mean that teenage talents who won in 2021 could defend their world U20 titles in 2022. Of the 40 individual winners in Nairobi, 16 will be eligible to compete in Cali.

One of those tipped for a podium finish in Cali is Team Nigeria sprinter Onwuzurike who according to World Athletics enjoyed the competition of his life in Nairobi last year. 

Onwuzurike smashed his 200m personal best in the heats with 20.47, ran a wind-assisted 20.13 to win his semifinal, then took gold in the final with a personal best of 20.21. He also featured on the Nigerian 4x100m squad which failed to get the baton around, but he and his teammates can aim to make amends in Cali later this year. 

Imaobong Nse-Uko the prodigious Team Nigeria quarter-miler, who ran 52.36 at age 14 back in 2018, won three gold medals in Nairobi. The 17-year-old set a lifetime best of 51.55 to win the one-lap sprint title. One day later, she contributed to Nigeria’s triumph in the women’s 4x400m, having also formed part of the winning mixed 4x400m team earlier in the championships. 

All three medalists in the women’s 400m in Nairobi will be young enough to clash again in Cali this year.

Also listed are Kenyan Purity Chepkirui one of Kenya’s eight gold medalists in Nairobi. She beat Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji, the 2018 world U20 800m champion and sub-four-minute 1500m runner, to take gold over 1500m in 4:16.07.

Also listed is Kenyan Jackeline Chepkoech, who won the gold medal in the steeplechase, Jamaican Tina Clayton winner of the 100m.

One of the youngest winners in Nairobi, Clayton claimed 100m gold in 11.09 and then formed part of Jamaica’s triumphant 4x100m team, setting a world U20 record of 42.94. Her twin sister Tia was also part of the relay quartet and, of course, will be able to compete in Cali later this year.