Athletics: Nigeria’s Ofili, Usoro set new records, qualify for Tokyo Olympics

NIGERIAN ladies Favour Ofili and Ruth Usoro were in brilliant form at the weekend in the United States of America, setting new track and field records and bagging Olympic tickets.

At the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Indoor Championships on Saturday, Ofili stole the show with a new Nigerian and African record in the women’s 200m sprint.

She ran 22.75 seconds to win the final heat in the 200m to set a new personal best and beat Ivorian Muriel Ahoure’s 22.80 seconds previous African record set in 2009.

Also importantly, the time was good enough to earn the 18-year-old a spot in the Tokyo Olympics women’s 200m event, which will be her debut.

The time is the third fastest in Ofili’s school Louisiana State University’s history in the women’s 200m indoor event.

The Nigerian teenager also helped her team secure fourth place in the women’s 4x400m relay with a season’s best of 3:31.82. 

She ran the second leg and returned with a split time of 52.09 seconds.

Also on Saturday, Usoro recorded a 14.36m leap in the women’s triple jump in the Big 12 Championship to win the event and qualify for the Olympics.

Representing Texas Tech University, Usoro set new school and meet records with her mark, which is also the second best in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) history.

Usoro had on Friday won the long jump event with an impressive 6.82m leap, which also earned her an Olympics spot in the event, meaning she will represent Nigeria in both the women’s long jump and triple jump in Tokyo.

Photo: Favour Ofili winning the 200m race on Saturday.