TEAM Nigeria mixed 4x400m quartet of Samuel Ogazi, Ella Onojuvwwe, Emmanuel Ojeli, and Patience Okon-George clocked a national record of 3:11.59 to narrowly finish 4th in the heats at the ongoing Paris Olympics on Friday,
The United States broke their own world record in the 4×400 mixed relay in the opening heats at the Olympics, crossing the line in three minutes 7.41 seconds amid a party atmosphere at the purple Paris track.
They set the previous mark of 3:08.80 at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
The U.S. led midway through the second lap in a textbook performance, overcoming a fast field in the opening heat in which four national records were broken as well as the world mark.
“I always knew we were going to run fast, and we talked about how it was going to take a record to win a medal,” said American Shamier Little. “It took a record to win our prelim.”
The French team were willed across the finish by a partisan home crowd, as they held off Belgium (3:10.74) and Jamaica (3:11.06) to finish second in 3:10.60 in the rarely contested event.
The crowd had to be shushed as they chanted for the French team on the first day of the athletics programme at the Stade de France and they broke into a roar as France took a slender lead.
Little pulled ahead for the U.S., however, and Bryce Deadmon extended the lead.
The Americans were eager to avoid the drama of three years ago when they were disqualified from the Olympic final – and later reinstated due to an official’s error – before eventually claiming bronze.
Kaylyn Brown was all business through the final lap, however, crossing the finish line on her own and the Paris crowd willed Amandine Brossier over the line in a thrilling finish down the final straight.
In the second heat, Britain advanced in a national record time of 3:10.61 and the Netherlands also qualified.
The Dutch will be hungry for redemption after their performance at the World Championships last year, where Femke Bol nearly brought home the gold but fell five metres from the line, hitting her head and dropping the baton.
The heats set the tone for the evening programme, where a packed out cheered wildly for home hopes in stark contrast to three years ago when competitors ran in front of empty stands in the COVID-quieted Tokyo Games.
“This is completely different compared to 2021 just for the simple fact that we have fans out here. I was running down the curve and I was like, ‘Ah damn, it’s kind of loud in here’. It’s a great experience,” Deadmon told reporters.
The 4×400 mixed relay final is set for Saturday (today).
Early on Friday, breezed into the women’s 100m event.
Rosemary Chukwuma will have to equal or run faster than the 10.92 Blessing Okagbare ran in the semifinals of the 100m event at the London Olympics in 2012 to stand a chance of becoming the first Nigerian to run in the Olympic 100m final in 12 years.
This is because the 22-year-old has been drawn in what appears to be the heat of death as she will battle two of the three fastest women in the event this year, reigning world 100m champion, Shar’Carri Richardson (10.71) and Julien Alfred (10.77) drawn in her semifinal heat, for the two automatic tickets on offer for spots in the final.
Also drawn in the same semifinal heat are two-time Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica and reigning African Championships and African Games champion Gina Bass.
Chukwuma will be hoping for a repeat performance of the 10.88 lifetime best she ran in May to set a new mark by a Nigerian woman in the semifinal of the event at the Olympics to put herself in contention for a place in the final either as one of the two automatic qualifiers or one of the two fastest losers.
The Nigerian was not inspiring in the opening heat, qualifying for the semifinal in 11.26
Eighteen-Eleven Media