Ruth Usoro’s sixth Nigerian athlete to secure automatic ticket to Budapest 2023 World Championships

Horizontal jumper Ruth Usoro will be among the 36 athletes that will compete in the Long Jump event at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August after exceeding the qualification standard by 2cm last month at the Sports Performance Center in Lubbock, Texas.

The Nigerian’s 6.87m leap is two centimetres more than the 6.85m mark set by World Athletics for long jumpers intending to compete at its flagship event this summer.

The leap is a personal best for the Nigerian and joint second with Blessing Okagbare in the Nigerian all-time list.

Usoro will now be competing in the championships for the second consecutive edition after making her debut in Oregon, USA last year.

And for the second straight championships, there will be two Nigerian long jumpers competing for podium appearances at the competition.

The 25 year old will be joined by reigning Commonwealth Games champion and record holder, Ese Brume who booked her Budapest 2023 ticket last August in Birmingham with her 7.00m leap.

In Oregon, Brume finished second while Usoro was 11th in the final classification.

The long jump duo will be joined by sprint hurdler Tobi Amusan and three sprinters Grace Nwokocha, Rosemary Chukwuma and Favour Ofili.

Amusan made the cut by virtue of her historic title win in Oregon which earned her a wild card to the Championships.

The three athletes met the qualification standard at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

While Nwokocha and Chukwuma will be competing in the 100m after running 10.99 and 11.02 respectively in the blue ribband event, Ofili secured her spot in the 200m with the 22.51 she ran to win her first individual medal (silver) at the Games.

Three other Nigerians have also secured provisional qualification as area champions.

They are Sade Olatoye who won the Hammer title at the African Championships in Mauritius and Chioma Onyekwere who won the Discus title as well as Chukwuebuka Enekechi, the reigning African Shot Put champion.

The trio, according to the entry standard for the championships will have to ensure they remain on top of the African performance list before the deadline for qualification to make the final cut.