Jessica Oji Out of African Championships Due to School Commitments

Nigeria’s new shot put champion Jessica Oji will miss the 24th African Senior Athletics Championships in Accra, Ghana, due to academic commitments.

The 18-year-old University of Pennsylvania freshman was named in Nigeria’s 45-athlete squad released by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, but Sportsnow reports that Oji will instead represent her university at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships in Princeton, New Jersey, from May 16-17.

The African Championships run from May 12-17, creating a direct schedule clash.

Oji, who set a Nigerian record of 18.50m in New York on March 1, just weeks after her switch of allegiance to Nigeria was approved by World Athletics, currently tops the African performance list for 2026 and would have been a strong contender for the women’s shot put title.

Nigeria last won the event in 2012, when Chinwe Okoro completed a memorable shot put/discus double. Oji’s absence means the country’s wait for another title in the discipline will continue.