World Athletics sets key marks to hit for Nigerian field eventers to advance to the final on opening day of 20th World Championships
Nigerian field eventers who will compete on the opening day of the 20th World Athletics Championships have been told by World Athletics what to do to secure their places in the final of their respective events.
For the discus throwers, Obiageri Pamela Amaechi and Chioma Onyekwere-Lyons, they will need to hit the 64.00m mark again if they desire to make history as the first Nigerian women discus throwers to make the final of the Championships.
World Athletics has set 64.00m as the automatic qualifying mark for the final. If fewer than 12 athletes hit the mark, then they should move closer to the mark so they can be among the best 12 to qualify.
Both Nigerians have thrown more than 64.00m this year and only need to repeat what they did at the Oklahoma Throws Series in April and August, respectively.
Onyekwere-Lyons threw 64.12m in April, while Obiageri recorded her first-ever 64.00m throw (64.80m) in August.
For the long jumpers, Ese Brume and Prestina Ochonogor, World Athletics has set the automatic qualifying mark at 6.75m, or they must be among the best 12 to qualify for the final if few athletes are able to hit that mark.
For Brume, a two-time medalist in the event, a repeat of her 6.79m personal season’s best will land her in her fourth straight World Athletics Championships final, while Ochonogor needs to jump farther than her 6.67m personal season’s best to dream of making her second major Championships/Games final after her incredible leap at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
In the men’s shot put, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi should easily hit the 21.35m automatic qualifying mark to make it to his third final in four appearances at the Championships.
He holds a lifetime best of 22.10m which he set in July this year and has thrown over 21.35m on more than seven occasions this year.
The 32-year-old made it to the final eight on his debut in 2019, finished 11th in Oregon in 2022, and failed to make it out of the qualifying stage two years ago in Budapest, Hungary.
