Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor last night proved she should not be written off yet from winning a medal at the ongoing 16th IAAF World Championships in London as she jumped her way into the final of the women’s Long Jump event.
After failing to find her form in the 100m where she failed to progress from the semi final, the double sprint champion at the last Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, leapt 6.51m in her second jump to book a place in the final slated for Friday night at the Olympic Stadium.
That jump was an improvement over the 6.21m with which she opened the qualifying race on a wet evening at the Championships. She finished eight in the overall standing.
Now, Okagbare who won a World Championships silver at the same field event four years ago in Moscow, Russia will be gunning to add another medal to her collection in the final.
She is no stranger to the big stage of the long jump, having won a bronze in her first Olympic Games in Beijing, China in 2008. That bronze was later elevated to silver when the Russian girl, Tatyana Lebedeva, who won the silverware tested positive for dope.
Okagbare’s 6.51m mark is however the lowest qualifying mark by a Nigerian in the history of the championships, falling behind the 6.68m Christy Opara-Thompson jumped to qualify for the final of the event in 1991 in Tokyo, Japan.
Policewoman Chioma Ajunwa holds the best qualifying mark by a Nigerian with her 7.01m mark in Athens, Greece in 1997. It is also the second longest qualifying
mark by a woman in the history of the championships after Fiona May’s 7.04m leap in 1999.
Okagbare’s compatriot, Ese Brume, failed to overcome her sloppy pre-championships form as she crashed out of the competition.
The Nigerian’s 6.38m third and final round leap was not enough as she finished 17th in the overall classification.
Also in fray for podium placement is three-time world champion Britney Reese, reigning world and Olympic champion Tatiana Bartoleta (USA), Darya Klishna (Russia competing as a neutral athlete), Lorraine Ugen (Britain) and Ivana Spanovic of Serbia.
They all came through the qualification test for places in the final as none of the 12 qualifiers failed to hit the 6.70m qualification mark under the atrocious condition at the Olympic stadium in London.
Meanwhile, Botswana’s Isaac Makwala who was stopped from racing the 400m final on Tuesday night placed second in the first semi final of the men’s 200m. He remains very bitter over the IAAF decision to stop him from the quarter mile where he was a potential medalist.
“”I put everything on God after what happened yesterday (the IAAF decision on Tuesday).
“I’m still running with my heart broken. I wish the IAAF had given me the decision to run the 400m first. I was ready to run. I don’t know who made the decision. 400m is my reason for training.
“”I’m running with anger. 400m is my race. But thanks to the crowd, they were amazing. Thanks to IAAF for letting me run today,” concludes Makwala on a note of sarcasm
