Hot SourceDuro Ikhazuagbe
After he ended Nigeria’s 38 years wait to have a compatriot in the final of the men’s 400m hurdles of the World Athletics Championship, Nathaniel Ezekiel, 22, will aim further to become the first to win a championship medal in the event for the country this evening in Tokyo, Japan.
The American Collegiate (NCAA) champion in the event will however have some of the best athletes in the men’s 400m hurdles all lined up this event, waiting the starter’s gun to run for the top honour and the $50,000 prize money at stake.
Ezekiel will have 29-year-old Norwegian, Karsten Warholm; USA’s Rai Benjamin;
Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos; Caleb Dean of USA; and Qatar’s duo of Abderrahman Samba and Ismail Doudai Abakar to contend with in his quest for the precious silverware.
Should Ezekiel succeed in getting to the podium, it will be icing on Team Nigeria’s outing in Tokyo with Tobi Amusan already winning a precious silver in the women’s 100m hurdles.
Three years ago, Team Nigeria’s contingent returned from the last Championship in Budapest in 2023 with no medal.
Henry Amike is the last Nigerian to run in the final of the men’s 400m hurdles in Rome , Italy in 1987.
Yesterday, Nigeria’s Udodi Onwuzuruike finished seventh in the semifinal of the men’s 200m. He had the misfortune of running in the semifinal race that had American duo of Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek and Jamaican Bryan Levell.
Should Levell win the 200m race, it will be a clean sweep of the sprint events in Tokyo after Oblique Seville won the 100m for the Caribbean island nation.
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