Enekwechi seeks Nigerian and African Shot Put history at the African Athletics Championships

Chukwuebuka Enekwechi will be seeking to make history when the final of the Shot Put event at the 23rd African Athletics Championships holds Friday evening in Douala, Cameroon.

The Nigerian will not only be looking to become the first Nigerian man to win the event three consecutive times but also the third African after Egypt’s Ahmed Mohamed Ashoush (1984, 1985 and 1988) and Burger Lambrechts who won in 1998, 2010 and 2012.

The 31 year old Nigerian is the second Nigerian after Chima Uguwu (1992 and 2000). He is however the first Nigerian and second African after Janus Roberts of South Africa (2004) to hit the 21m mark in the history of the championships.

Enekwechi is now gunning to extend his record to hit the 21m mark in three (consecutive) editions of the championships after becoming the first to do it in two editions following his victory two years ago in Mauritius.

The Nigerian set Championships record in each of his first two editions and will become the first African to do so in three editions if he sets another Championships record on Friday.

Enekwechi will however have to be at his best and prove he is not just the African leader coming to the championships with the 21.91 new lifetime mark he set nearly one month ago in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

The mark is the farthest by an African man since 2001 when Janus Roberts hit 21.97m incidentally in Eugene, Oregon.

He will be challenged for the gold by South African duo of Kyle Blignaut who is the second African to have hit the 21m mark and more so far this year and Burger Lambrechts Jr, son of three-time champion, Burger Lambrechts.

Also confirmed for the event are the Egyptian duo of Mohamed Khalifa (20.91 personal season’s best) and Mostafa Amr Hassan (20.8 personal season’s best) who has a personal best of 21.79m set 10 years ago.