Heartbreak as Alina Rotaru-Kottmann denies Ese Brume chance to make World Athletics Championships history

Ese Brume’s bid to make history as the most decorated Nigerian athlete in World Athletics Championships history was denied at the death by Romania’s 2017
World University Games champion, Alina Rotaru-Kottmann.

The Nigerian was on her way to clinching her third straight World Championships medal in the long jump event after her 6.84m second round leap was not
bettered by the chasing pack which included the 30 year old Romanian who finished in sixth position in 2019.

With reigning World indoor champion, Ivana Vuleta consolidating on her 7.05m second round lead with a massive 7.14m world lead in the fifth round and USA’s Tara Davis-Woodhall’s 6.91m first round effort ‘safely’ looking ‘uncatchable’, Brume also looked a sure bet for the bronze.

Rotaru-Kottmann was in seventh position going into the final round but seemed to have saved her best for the last as she flew high into the sky and landed
with her first 6.8m (6.88m) of the championship.

Brume would have become the first Nigerian to win three medals at the World Championships following wins in 2019 and 2022 and the first to win in three
consecutively editions.

She was also on the way to extending her record of being the only athlete to win more than once in the same event at the Championships and the oldest woman
to win for Nigeria.

Attention will now shift to sprint hurdler, Tobi Amusan as Nigeria hopes to make it three consecutive appearance on the medal table.