Nathaniel drawn with Warholm, Dos Santos in Olympics 400m hurdles ‘heat of death’!
Nathaniel Ezekiel must be prepared to make history as the first Nigerian to break 48 seconds in the 400m hurdles if he is desirous of becoming the first Nigerian man in 40 years to run in the final of the 400m hurdles final at the Olympics after the 21 year old was drawn against two of the three best barrier runners in the world in the last four years.
The Nigerian holds a 48.00 seconds lifetime best but will have to run much faster than that to keep pace with reigning World and Olympic champion, Karsten Warholm, the only man to have broken 46 seconds in the event, and Brazilian, Alison dos Santos, bronze medalist in the event in Tokyo and 2022 World champion who is one of only five athletes to have broken 47 seconds over the 400m hurdles.
Nathaniel will look more to focus on running fast enough to secure the third position and qualify as one of the two fastest qualifiers.
To achieve this, the Nigerian must run faster than USA’s Trevor Bassitt who is among the top 20 (19th) in the all-time list of performers an one of 17 athletes who have broken 48 seconds this year (47.82) and holds a lifetime best of 47.38 he ran last year at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
Also sure to contest third position and a non-automatic qualifying spot with the Nigerian is Frenchman, Clement Ducos who finally ducked inside 48 seconds (47.69) for the first time in his career in qualifying for the final as well as Jaheel Hyde of Jamaica who will, like the Nigerian, be motivated break 48 seconds at the biggest athletics stage on earth.
The only Nigerian to run in the final of the event was Henry Amike, the former national record holder (48.50) who placed eighth at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, USA.
