AFN dumps men’s 4x400m event, to feature in four relay events at World Relays in Guangzhou, China
Nigeria will take part in four of the six events slated for the seventh World Athletics Relays which holds in Guangzhou, China between May 10 and 11, according to a press release by the National Sports Commission.
The competition is serving as qualifiers for September’s 20th World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
The Nigerian contingent will feature in 4 x 100m relay men, 4 x 100m relay women, 4 x 100m mixed relay and 4 x 400m mixed relay.
Nigeria qualified for four of the original five events via her participation at the events at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
According to World Athletics, the top 16 teams in each discipline at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games qualify for entry to the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou.
Nigeria participated in the men’s 4x100m and 4x400m as well as the women’s 4x100m plus the mixed 4x400m relay events at the Olympics.
Nigeria has chosen not to present a team in the men’s 4x400m ostensibly because the Athletics Federation of Nigeria could not raise a team as the top 400m runners will be preparing for the Conference meetings in the USA which holds a few days after the China event.
Top sprinters like Tima Godbless and Joy Udo-Gabriel may also likely miss out because of the NCAA Conference meetings.
The women’s 4x400m did not qualify and the AFN looks not to have made any effort to get the team to China.
The top 14 finishers will qualify to compete in Tokyo in September.
