Itshekiri chases World Championships entry standard to Canadian Track and Field Championships
Nigerian drawn in lane three, heat three
Reigning Nigeria 100m speed king, Ushoritse Itshekiri will be in action on Saturday in the 100m event at the 2023 Bell Canadian Track and Field Championships
as he bids to secure the entry standard for the blue ribband event at next month’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Itshekiri won the Nigerian championships 100m title early this month in Benin city and knows his position in Nigeria’s team to the World Championships will
be confirmed without any controversy if he makes the 10.00 seconds entry standard set by World Athletics.
The two-time Nigerian 100m champion can also bank on his ranking score to make the team but it will mean the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, will have
to make good its vow of not selecting athletes who shunned the Nigerian championships early this month.
Itshekiri holds a 10.02 personal season and lifetime best and if he runs two hundreth of a minute faster than that on Saturday, he will be the number one man
on the list to Budapest.
The Nigerian has been drawn in lane three in the third and final semifinal heat and will fight for the two automatic slots for the final with Aaron Brown, a member of the Canadian 4x100m team that won gold at the last World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA.
