Nigeria’s men’s 4x100m relay team must now run faster than the 38.36 Switzerland relay team has ran in August last year to at least move into the final qualifying position for next month’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
The team, with a 38.56 personal seasos’s best dropped the baton in their most recent bid to qualify at the Republic of Benin athletics Championships on Saturday and the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, are now reportedly shopping for another event for the team to qualify.
Sportsnow gathered the federation is thinking about ‘resurrecting’ either the Warri Relays and Grand Prix in Asaba or the seventh ACAN meet in Shagamu for this purpose.
Both events, accroding to World Athletics calendar should have been held within the week that ended on Saturday but organisers of the meet are at liberty to shift the dates.
The 4x100m relay team will now be facing a new challenge as the Godson Oghenebrume led quartet must now repeat the 38.35 they ran at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium in Benin last year to stand a chance of qualifying as nations scramble for the eight available spots in the 16-team relay event.
Italy shifted the target for the Nigerians when their 4x100m relay team ran 38.04 in Grosseto to move into the 11th position in the final 16 ranking while Nigeria dropped from 18th to 19th position.
The quartet of Favour Ashe, Kanyinsola Ajayi, Alaba Akintola and Oghenebrume now nows even a 38.35 run may not be enough in the final analysis as countries are unrelenting in their bid to make it to Budapest to run in the 4x100m relay.
