Three ‘Nigerian women’ certain to end 2024 in top 100 World Athletics rankings
While three bonafide Nigerian women, Tobi Amusan (132nd), Favour Ofili (139th) and Ese Brume (187th) are certain to miss out on the top 100 ranking for 2024, three other athletes who have Nigerian blood flowing wholly or partially through their veins are certain of getting recognised among the top 100 women athletes this year.
The trio of Salwa Eid Naser, Yemisi Ogunleye and Rhasidat Adeleke are among the top 51 athletes in the latest World Athletics rankings released on Tuesday with Eid Naser, formerly Ebelechukwu Agbapuonwu, ranked the highest of the trio albeit she did not mount the podium in Paris as Olympic champion.
The Bahrani, who won silver behind Dominican Republic’s Mareiledy Paulino at the Paris 2024 Olympics has a ranking score of 1412 for her impressive performances in the outgoing year which included running 48.53 and three sub-50 performances which culminated in an Olympic silver medal and a third-place finish at the Diamond League final in Brussels, Belgium.
Eid Naser is just five points clear of Ogunleye (1407), the Shot Put champion who has a Nigerian father and a German mother.
Ogunleye became the first German in 28 years to mount the podium as Olympic champion and the Ikere-Ekiti native threw 20m and above twice this season in addition to a World indoor silver and an Olympic gold.
Adeleke was tipped to be among the 400m medals after her impressive rise, especially last year and in the NCAA.
The Irish athlete, born to Nigerian parents, cruised into her first Olympic final but that was where it ended. The 22-year-old faded badly in the final straight in the final, allowing Polish athlete, Natalia Kaczmarek, who had earlier in the season denied her the European Championships title, snatch the bronze medal from her with Paulino and Eid Naser in front.
Her final chance to get her first win in head-to-head clashes against Paulino and Eid Naser at the Diamond League final was not fruitful as she initially finished fourth before she was upgraded to third after Eid Naser was disqualified for lane violation.
