Team Nigeria Suffers Another Defeat In 2023 World Athletics Championships

The Nigerian men’s and women’s 4x100m relay teams could not advance to the next round of the 2023 World Athletics Championships making it obvious that team Nigeria will leave Budapest in Hungary without making the podium.

In a very competitive men’s semifinal in Budapest, the quartet of Favour Ashe, Usheoritse Itsekiri, Alaba Akintola, and Seye Ogunlewe set a new season’s best time of 38.20 seconds. Despite that, the team finished fifth and failed to progress to the final.

Team Italy who are the reigning Olympic champions won the race in 37.65 seconds. The Tokyo gold champion in the individual event, Lamont Jacobs, inspired the Italians by running a barnstorming second leg.

Britain overtook Canada for the third automatic qualifying slot in the final leg as the holders were eliminated from the final. South Africa came in second and qualified with a time of 37.71 seconds.

A new season’s best was also achieved by the South African team of Shaun Maswangnayi, Benjamin Richardson, Clarence Munyai, and Akani Simbine.

Also, the Nigerian women’s team was unable to complete the race after Justina Eyakpobeyan’s lead-off in the women’s 4x100m relay heat in Budapest because the baton was dropped.

These defeats came after Tobi Amusan, who is team Nigeria’s best chance of winning a medal at the competition, failed to win the 100-meter hurdles on Thursday.