20th World Indoor Championships: Enekwechi in; Ochonogor, Adeshina, men’s 4x400m out!
It has now been confirmed that reigning African Games Shot Put king and Paris 2024 Olympics finalist, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi will be the only Nigerian athlete that will compete at the ongoing 20th World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.
Enekwechi’s name is on the startlist for Sunday’s Shot Put final released Saturday by World Athletics.
The 32-year-old is one of only two Africans among the 15 shot putters that will compete for the three medals on offer and the Nigerian will be looking to throw farther than the 21.60m he threw at the last edition of the championships which landed him in sixth place.
The other African in contention for a place on the podium is South Africa’s Chris Van Nierkerk who will be hoping to hit his first 21m mark to be able to be counted among the challengers for one of the medals.
Meanwhile, the duo of Prestina Ochonogor and Temitope Adeshina will not be competing in the competition.
Ochonogor, keen to become the third Nigerian woman after Chioma Ajunwa and Ese Brume to win a long jump medal at the Championships, is not listed in the startlist for the event.
In fact, there is no African among the 13 athletes confirmed for the final.
There are however athletes who made it to the NCAA final listed to compete in Sunday’s final and they are led by Bahamas’ Anthaya Charlton and Nigerian-born, Yoruba woman, Funminiyi Olajide who finished three places (11th) behind Ochonogor at the NCAA final. She will be competing for Great Britain.
Adeshina will also not have the opportunity to make history like she did at the NCAA Division 1 track and field indoor championships last weekend as the first Nigerian to win a high jump medal as her name is also not among the 10 athletes that will start in the final.
Her fellow gold medal winner in Virginia last weekend, Elena Kulichenko will however be in contention for one of the three medals on offer and will go head-to-head with reigning Olympic champion and world record holder, Yaroslava Mahuchich of Ukraine for the seventh time.
Nigeria will also not be in the men’s 4x400m relay as the country’s name is not on the startlist. Only six countries led by USA and the host nation, China will compete for the three medals on offer.
Nigeria, with a strong team that included African record holder, Ezekiel Nathaniel, had been tipped to become the first African country to win a medal in the event.
