Team Nigeria’s Mixed Relay Hopes Fade as USA Set New World Record

Duro IkhazuagbeLive in Paris

Despite running a new national record of 3:11.99 to finish fourth in the second heat of the 4x400m Mixed Relay yesterday evening, Team Nigeria failed to make the cut for the final of the event at the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympic Games here in France.

The quartet of Samuel Ogazi, Ella Onojuvwevwo, Emmanuel Ojeli and Patience Okon-George left Nigerians inside the massive Stade de France in despair with the performance. They were expected to be amongst the eight teams to battle for the 1600 Mixed Relay medals.

Nigerian track officials responsible for the selection of the team clearly missed the point in leaving out either Easter Elo Joseph or Omolara Ogunmakinju from this crucial event. Either of the two quarter milers was capable of running faster than Patience Okon-George the weakest link of the quartet that finished fourth in the final leg of the mixed relay.

Expectedly, Great Britain won the heat with a new national record of 3:10.61 while The Netherlands (3:10.81) and Italy (3.11.59) picked the second and third spots  to qualify for the final.

The biggest news of the day was the new world record of 3:07.41 set by the United States of America in the 4x400m Mixed Relay. They effectively erased their previous record of 3:08.80 set at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.

“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. Belgium, Jamaica and Poland completed the field for the final slated for today, Saturday.

Also today, Nigeria’s lone surviving sprinter in the 100m, Rosemary Chukwuma will have the unfortunate pairing with 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 to run 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 lady was unsettled in the opening heat, barely managing to escape a false start to qualify for the semifinal in 11.26