Nathaniel gets two 47 seconds runners in first Olympics 400m hurdles heat

Nigeria’s Ezekiel Nathaniel has been handed what looks like a tough first round heat after the 21 year old was drawn against two athletes who have dipped inside 48 seconds this year and another athlete who has ran 48.01 personal season’s best but holds a 47.41 lifetime best.

Nathaniel will run from lane three and just outside him in lane four is Italy’s Alessandro Sibilio who ran a personal season and lifetime best of 47.50 to win the silver medal at the European Championships in June.

Jamaican, Roshawn Clarke, who has also broken 48 seconds this year is drawn in lane eight. Clarke ran 47.63 just last month at the London Diamond League meeting and holds a lifetime best of 47.34 he ran lst year at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary in 2023.

Also in contention for three automatic tickets on offer for the semifinals in the heat is home boy, Wilfried Happio who is just one hundredth of a second slower than Nathaniel so far this year but who has broken 48 seconds in his career. He ran his lifetime best of 47.41 at the World Championships in Oregon, USA in 2022 and has broken 48 seconds twice thereafter.

Nathaniel will be aiming for a place in the semifinal to move him closer to becoming the second Nigerian after Henry Amike (1984) to compete in the final of the event and probably be the sixth African to make it to the podium.

Uganda’s John Akii-Bua is Africa’s best performer in the event after winning gold at the 1972 Olympics. He is followed by Senegal’s Amadou Dia Ba, Zambia’s Samuel Matete and Kenya’s Boniface Mucheru Tumuti who came second in 1988, 1996 and 2016 respectively while South Africa’s Llewellyn Herbert won a bronze medal in 2000.