Onwuzurike’s first Nigerian man to qualify for 2023 World Athletics Championships
If ratified by World Athletics, Udodi Onwuzurike will become the first Nigerian man to secure the qualification standard to August’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Onwuzurike ran 20.14 to win the 200m in the elite invitational events at the Mt. SAC Relays on Saturday at Hilmer Lodge Stadium, California.
The 20 year old who won a world U20 title in the 200m in 2021 and was third outdoors at the NCAA Championships as a freshman last year won his first major collegiate invitational victory on Saturday.
He has secured the ticket to return to World Athletics’ flagship event a year after making his debut in the competition, running as far as the semifinals in the 100m and 200m events.
While Onwuzurike has opened the door for the men, as many as seven Nigerian women have booked their tickets to Hungary.
The latest to do so is Discus Thrower, Chioma Onyekwere whose African record setting 64.96m at the Oklahoma Throws Series on Saturday is 76m more than the 64.20m entry standard set by World Athletics for the event.
Others who hve secured their qualification include reigning World 100m hurdles champion, Tobi Amusan who qualifies automatically as the defending champion, Ese Brume and Ruth Usoro in the long jump, Rosemary Chukwuma and Grace Nwokocha (depends on outcome of doipng case) in the 100m and Favour Ofili who reconfired her qualification with the 20.11 new African 200m indoor record she ran in the winter.
The women’s 4x100m relay team will also be in Budapest after finishing fourth at the World Championships in Oregon, USA last year.
Also set for the August trip to Budapest is the mixed relay team who secured qualification after finishing sixth in the final in Oregon.
