2023 Big 12 Outdoor Championships: Rosemary Chukwuma faces Julien Alfred test again!
Can Rosemary Chukwuma become the first Nigerian woman sprinter to win a Conference 100m title since Blessing Okagbare last did in 2010?
That will be the expectations of many Nigerians who watched the 21 year old settle for bronze last year at the Terry and Linda Fuller T and F Complex in
Lubbock, Texas.
Chukwuma ran a wind aided 10.88 to come third in the event where University of Texas’s Julien Alfred also ran a wind-aided 10.82.
Alfred is also in the mix this year and has grown to become one of the best sprinters in the world.
The Saint Lucia athlete ran two incredible times indoors that shot her geometrically up in the all time standings. Her 6.94, title winning run at the NCAA
indoor championships in New Mexico in March is the second fastest ever run by a woman behind Irina Privalova’s 6.92.
In the 200m, she almost became the second woman to run inside 22 seconds behind Jamaica’s Merlene Ottey but her 22.01 finish is also the second fastest in the history of the event.
Chukwuma will be up against the phenomenal Saint Lucian but it’s not all gloom and doom as the Nigerian has beaten Alfred once in five meetings and that was
at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games in October 2018.
While the Nigerian ran 11.17 to win, Alfred stormed in second in 11.23.
The duo will also meet in the 200m where they have met twice with each winning once.
