Amusan, Ofili, Ogazi, Nathaniel return from Paris 2024 Olympics with tickets to compete at next year’s 20th World Athletics Championships
Relay teams to punch their tickets in Guangzhou, China
Team Nigeria track and field athletes, like their counterparts in other sports, returned without a medal from the Paris 2024 Olympics but four of the athletes did not leave Paris empty handed.
The quartet of Tobi Amusan, Favour Ofili, Samuel Ogazi and Ezekiel Nathaniel left Paris with the ticket to compete at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan 2025 stamped by World Athletics, only awaiting final clearance from the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN.
World Athletics released the entry standard for its flagship event on the eve of the athletics event of the Olympic Games with athletes looking to compete given from August 1, 2024 to August 24, 2025 to achieve the standard.
Amusan, who did not go past the semifinals of the 100m hurdles event in Paris, confirmed her ticket with the two times she ran at the Olympics, with 12.49 her best performance which is well faster that the 12.73 set by the world body for athletics.
Ofili made it to the final of the 200m and her 22.05 best time at the Games, the fastest ever recorded by an African woman in two years, qualifies her to run in Tokyo in what will be her fourth appearance in the championships after making her debut in 2019 in Doha, Qatar.
Ogazi, like Ofili, was also in the 400m final in Paris and improved with each race until the final. His 44.41 semifinal time, his lifetime best, is faster than the 44.85 set for the event by World Athletics and he will be competing in his first World Athletics Championships in Tokyo if he stays fit and inform.
Ezekiel will also be in Tokyo after running 48.33 in the 400m hurdles in Paris which is faster than the 48.50 entry standard for the event.
The World Athletics Relays Guangzhou 2025 will be used as a qualifying event for the relays with the top 14 teams in each discipline securing their place at the World Championships.
