World Athletics Championships, Budapest 2023: Ofili gets very tough semifinal draw
Nigerian to battle Ta Lou, Jackson and Rihardson for the two automatic qualification tickets in heat
Favour Ofili will need to run close to her 21.96 lifetime best and Nigeria record to stand a chance of picking one of the
two automatic tickets for Friday’s final when she files out for her 200m semifinal heat on Thursday.
The Nigerian qualified for the semifinal as one of the six non-automatic (fastest losers) qualifiers and has been drawn
against defending champion, Shericka Jackson of Jamaica who holds a 21.71 personal season’s best, Marie-Josee Talou of
Ivory Coast who has ran 22.26 this season and 100m champion, Shar Carri Richardson of the USA who set a 21.94 lifetime best
this season.
Ofili will be running in her second straight semifinal and and knows she needs to run more than the 22.30 seh ran to exit
to at the same stage last season.
The 20 year old remains the sixth athlete to have competed in the semifinals of the event after Mary Onyali (1987, 1993, 1997, 2001 and 2003), Fatimah Yusuf (1999), Mercy Nku (2003), Blessing Okagbare (2013 and 2019) and Rosemary Chukwuma (2022).
She will be aiming to go a step further by becoming the fourth Nigerian to run in the final of the event after Onyali (1987 and 1993), Yusuf (1999) and Okagbare (2013).
Okagbare remains the only Nigerian to win a medal in the event following her third place finish in Moscow, Russia.
