Ese Brume Misses Long Jump Podium as USA’s Davis-Woodhall Takes the Gold

Duro Ikhazuagbe Live in Paris

Ese Brume’s quests for a back-to-back Olympic Games medal failed to yield results on Thursday night here at Paris 2024 as she finished fifth with a dismal best jump of 6.70m. 

Brume who won a bronze medal at Tokyo 2021, failed to reproduce her blitzing form of 2022 that earned her a silver medal at the World Championships in Oregon, USA.

The two other Nigerian jumpers that made the final from the qualifying round, Ruth Usoro (6.58m) and Prestina Ochonogor (6.24m) finished overall 10th and 12th.

American Tara Davis-Woodhall soared to the Paris 2024 gold in the women’s long jump, sealing victory with a gigantic fourth leap to improve on her silver medal performance at last year’s World Championships in Budapest.

The 25-year-old posted 7.10m to take the title from Tokyo Olympic gold medallist and three-time world champion Malaika Mihambo of Germany who claimed silver with 6.98m.

Another American, Jasmine Moore, jumped 6.96m to secure bronze.

Davis-Woodhall had victory locked up before her final jump, choking back tears before her final sprint down the runway. She stood up briefly after landing, then fell back into the sand with a wide smile to the delight of the Stade de France crowd.

Earlier in the day, Team Nigeria’s Odunayo Adekuoroye and Rafiat Lawal failed to progress from the preliminary rounds of both the women’s 57kg wrestling freestyle and the 52kg weightlifting events.

Similarly, Nigeria’s men and women’s 4x100m relay teams failed to progress from the heats of the two sprint relays. 

Today inside the main bowl of Stade de France, Nigeria’s lone hope for a medal, Tobi Amusan will run the semifinals of the 100m hurdles for a place in Saturday’s final.

She has Bahamas’ Devynne Charlton and Danielle Williams of Jamaica to contend with in the semifinals heat 1 of the day for a place in the final.