World Athletics Championships, Budapest 2023: Rosemary Chukwuma gets Shericka Jackson challenge in 100m
Nwachukwu set to become first Nigerian to run in open 400m since 2017
Nigeria’s Rosemary Chukwuma has been drawn to run against reigning world leader, Shericka Jackson in heat four of the women’s 100m event which starts 11.10
(Nigeria time).
Chukwuma is the lone Nigerian in the event and will battle Jackson, the Jamaican who ran a 10.65 world lead at the Jamaican Championships last month,
Germany’s Gina Luckenkemper and Trinidad and Tobago’s Michelle-Lee Ahye for the three automatic qualification slots in the heat.
The Nigerian (11.01) is the third fastest in the line up this year behind Jackson and Luckenkemper (11.00) and, on paper, should have little or no problem in
qualifying for the semifinal.
In the men’s 400m, Dubem Nwachukwu will become the first Nigerian to run in the open 400m in six years after Samson Nathaniel who didn’t advance beyond the
first round in London in 2017.
Nwachukwu will be seeking to become the first Nigerian to run in the semifinalof the event in 19 years, after Godday James ran 46.62 and failed to advance to
the final in Helsinki, Finland in 2005.
Also in action on Sunday is Nigeria’s 400m hurdles record holder, Nathaniel Ezekiel who will be keen to qualify for the semifinal for the second straight
championships.
The Discus throw duo of reigning Commonwealth Games champion, Chioma Onyekwere, Nigeria and National Sports Festival queen, Ashley Anumba and Commonwealth
Games bronze medalist, Pamela Obiageri Amaechi will also be in action on Sunday.
While Onyekwere who made history as the first Nigerian to woman to win a Commonwealth Games Discus throw title will only need to throw 96cm less than the
64.96m African record she set in April, Anumba and Amaechi must set new lifetime best to be quaranteed of qualifying for the final.
No Nigerian woman has ever made it to the final of the event and the trio would be seeking for the Birmingham 2022 miracle to make history.
Adewale Olukoju is the only Nigerian, man or woman who has made it to the final of the Discus. He placed 11th in 1991 and sixth in 1995.
