Nigeria’s sprints sensation Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor missed out on a place in the 100m final at the ongoing London Championships, after she finished 4th in the 100m semis clocking 11.08s, in a race that was won by USA’s Tori Bowie in 10.91s,with Cote D’Ivoire’s Mureille Ahoure coming closely behind in 10.99s.
Okagbare-Ighoteguonor’s time was an agonizing one considering it was just a hundredth of a second shy of the last qualifying spot, with Kelly-Ann Baptiste taking the last spot in 11.07s.
This is not a good one for the Nigerian or the country, failing to produce a sprints finalist at the World Championships level, an area where the country’s track and field was most notable for before. It also shows the level of deterioration Nigerian sport has taken, producing just one athlete to fly the country’s colors in both the men and women’s category.
There’ll also be questions from various athletics pundits in the country, if it’s high time the multiple medallist bows at and let the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) develop younger athletes that can fill up her big shoes few years from now.
However, it’s not over for Okagbare-Ighoteguonor at the Championships, as she’ll be back later in the week to compete in the Long Jump. The multi-talented athlete will be hoping to put behind the 100m disappointment by going for a medal, an event she has a Silver medal from four years ago in Moscow.
