TWO more medals were added to Team Nigeria’s haul at the Mauritius 2022 African Athletics Championships today but the country came short in the men’s and women’s 100m finals.
Tobi Amusan had won the country’s first gold in women’s 100m hurdles earlier in the day, with the mixed 4x400m relays team and high jumper Temitope Adeshina adding silver medals.
The quartet of Emmanuel Ojeli, Ella Onojuvwewo, Ayo Adeola and Patience Okon-George posted a season’s best of 3 minutes 22.38 seconds to finish second behind Botswana in the mixed 4x400m final.
Botswana claimed gold in a time of 3:21.85, while Kenya clinched bronze in 3:22.75.
Adeshina won Nigeria’s other medal of the day after a remarkable journey.
She only arrived in Mauritius today and had hardly settled down before getting straight to action in women’s high jump.
She leapt to 1.79m to grab the silver medal behind Ghana’s Rose Yeboah, who recorded the same height but finished ahead on countback.
Indeed, the bronze medallist Yvonne Robson of South Africa also did 1.79m in the exciting, closely fought final.
It was however a close shave in the men’s and women’s 100m finals as Nigerian athletes finished just outside the medal zone in both races.
Tima Godbless came fourth in the women’s final in 11.27s, while Raymond Ekevwo was also fourth in the men’s event, clocking 10.03s.
Gambia’s Gina Bass won the women’s gold in 11.06s, with Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala landing the men’s gold in 9.93s, beating South Africa’s Akani Simbine in a photo finish.
South Africa’s Henricho Bruintjies finished just ahead of Ekevwo in 10.01 to clinch bronze.
