2026 World Relays: Nigeria Secures Three Relay Spots for Beijing 2027
After missing out on the relay events at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan last year, Nigeria will be presenting at least three relay teams when the World Athletics flagship event makes its 21st stop in Beijing in 2027, following the qualifications of the mixed 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams as well as the women’s 4x100m team.
The mixed 4x100m team set the tone for the return on the opening day of the competition at the 2026 World Relays in Gaborone, Botswana.
The quartet of Favour Ashe, Obi Jennifer Chukwuka, Chidera Ezeakor, and Maria Thompson Omokwe ran a new 40.24 African record to seal victory and a first‑ever ticket to the event, which will be making its debut at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing.
Two more teams punched their tickets on the second and final day of competition.
The mixed 4x400m relay team, led by reigning African Games 400m champion Chidi Okezie, alongside Nathaniel Ezekiel, Taiwo Mary Kudoro, and Patience Okon George, ran a new 3:12.88 season’s best to secure qualification.
The women’s 4x100m team, anchored by teenage sensation Miracle Ezechukwu, atoned for bungling their baton exchange on day one and took full advantage of their second chance to qualify in an impressive 42.94, their fastest time since the Paris 2024 Olympics, when they ran 42.70.
The men’s and women’s 4x400m teams and the men’s 4x100m team still have a chance to qualify when the qualification window for the Beijing 2027 World Championships officially opens later this year.
They can qualify to fill up the remaining four slots in each relay event. With many of Nigeria’s top stars missing in Gaborone, and with proper coordination by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), it will be easy for Nigeria to pick one of the four available tickets on offer in each relay event.
Stakeholders are waiting to see how fast a men’s 4x100m relay team of Ashe, Kanyinsola Ajayi, Israel Okon, and Ushoritse Ishekiri or Udodi Onwuzurike can go, or a women’s 4x400m team of Ella Onojuvwevwo, Chioma Nwachukwu, Esther Joseph, and Patience Okon George as well as the men’s 4x400m quartet of Samuel Ogazi, who ran 44.02 at the weekend to break Innocent Egbunike’s 44.17 Nigerian record set way back in 1987, Nathaniel Ezekiel, Edidiong Udo, and Chidi Okezie.
Meanwhile, the mixed 4x100m team is through to the Ultimate Championship, which is making its debut in Budapest, Hungary this September. The team finished sixth, the final qualifying position, after Great Britain and the Netherlands failed to finish due to baton exchange problems.
