2023 World Athletics Championships: Amusan, Brume, Ofili, Nwokocha, Chukwuma Qualify
As World Athletics release entry standard for flagship event
Reigning World champion and 100m hurdles record holder Tobi Amusan and Commonwealth Games long jump champion, Ese Brume top the list of five Nigerian athletes who have secured qualification for next year’s World Athletics Championships after World Athletics published Friday the qualification system for the global showpiece scheduled to hold next August in Budapest, Hungary.
Amusan, who made history as the first Nigerian, man or woman to be crowned a world champion and the first to set a world outdoor record qualifies automatically as the defending champion albeit her 12.30 seconds Commonwealth Games setting record she ran in Birmingham also qualifies her for the championships.
The qualifying standard for the 100m hurdles is set at 12.78 seconds.
Brume is also through after making history in Birmingham as the first woman in Games history to hit the 7m mark with her 7.00m gold winning performance.
With the qualification period for Budapest 2023 running from July 30, 2022 to July 30, 2023, it means performances achieved at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham fall within the qualification period.
This also means the sprint trio of Grace Nwokocha, Rosemary Chukwuma and Favour Ofili have also secured qualification to compete in Budapest.
Nwokocha ran 10.99 seconds in Birmingham while Chukwuma ran 11.02 seconds which are both inside the 11.08 qualification standard set for the women 100m event.
Ofili’s 22.51 seconds performance in the 200m which fetched her the silver medal in the women’s 200m at the Commonwealth Games has also secured her a lane in Budapest subject to meeting any other qualification hurdle set by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN.
The time falls within the 22.60 seconds set by World Athletics for the half lap race.
With no dates set for the 13th African Games in Ghana, the duo of Chioma Onyekwere and Oyesade Olatoye will have to throw new lifetime bests to qualify for Budapest 2023.
Both throwers made the cut for the Oregon World Championships as area champions after winning at the African Athletics Championships in Mauritius but will have to now go above their best ever marks to qualify.
Onyekwere, the Commonwealth Games Discus champion will have to hit the 64m mark for the first time in her career as the standard has been set at 64.20m.
Olatoye will also have to become the second Nigerian after Annettee Echikunwoke to hit the 70m mark to make the cut for the Hammer Throw event.
Interestingly, no Nigerian man has met the standard.
With the standard for the 100m set at 10.00 seconds, the task has been made more herculean than what obtained for the Oregon World Championships.
Seye Ogunlewe, Alaba Akintola, Udodi Onwuzurike and Godson Brume will have to run new personal bests to make the standard while the duo of Favour Ashe and Raymond Ekevwo will have to run inside 10 seconds again to secure lanes in Budapest.
Shot Putter Chukwuebuka Enekwechi will have to throw 15m above his 21.25m personal season’s best this year to secure a passage to his third World Athletics Championships with the qualification standard set at 21.40m.
