NIGERIA’s 21-year-old men’s 4×400m African record has been broken at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Botswana’ quartet of Isaac Makwala, Babaloki Thebe, Zibane Ngozi and Bayapo Ndori ran 2 minutes, 58.33 seconds on Friday to break the African record of 2:58.68 seconds which Nigeria ran at the Sydney 2000 Games.
The Nigerian quartet, made up of Clement Chukwu, Jude Monye, Enefiok Udo-Obong and the late Sunday Bada, set the record in the Sydney 2000 final to initially win silver that was later upgraded to gold after the American team was disqualified for doping offences.
On Friday, Botswana finished second in the first semi-final behind the United States of America to smash the African record and qualify for the final.
The American quartet of Trevor Stewart, Randolph, Bryce Deadmon and Vernon Norwood won in a season’s best time of 2:57.77, while Trinidad and Tobago came third in 2:58.60 to also book their place in the final.
Poland won the second semi-final in 2:58.55 ahead of Jamaica (2:59.29) and Belgium (2:59.37).
The Botswana team go into the final with real medal prospects, with their time being the second fastest overall in the semi-finals.
