- The previous African record was held by another set of Nigerians who competed at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games
The Nigerian quartet of Joy Udo-Gabriel, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma and Grace Nwokocha ran the race of their lives early Sunday morning in the final of the women’s 4x100m event at the ongoing World Championships in Oregon as they set an African record of 42.22s but come fourth.
In the same vein, Spain posted a national record 42.58 in fifth having also set a new mark in the semis.
And Jamaica fielded the three medallists from the women’s 100 metres in Saturday’s World Championships sprint relay but that was still not enough to prevent a super-slick U.S. quartet taking gold to raise the biggest cheer of the week at Hayward Field.
Jamaica looked formidable after bringing in their “big three” – Shericka Jackson, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah – with lead runner Kemba Nelson the only survivor from their semi-final team.
The United States introduced Abby Steiner to join Melissa Jefferson, Jenna Prandini and Twanisha Terry, and after a superb series Terry ran a terrific anchor leg to bring them home in 41.14 seconds – the fifth-fastest in history.
Jamaica were second in 41.18 – the sixth-best ever – after losing fractions on a couple of stretched changeovers.
Britain were in the medal hunt until 200m bronze medallist Dina Asher-Smith pulled up injured at the end of her third leg, allowing Germany to storm through for a surprise bronze in 42.03.
Jamaica and the United States had each won four of the previous eight world titles and between them eight of the last 10 Olympic golds. Saturday´s head-to-head was as mouth-watering as any of those, with the Americans hoping their well-honed teamwork could make the difference against a squad that they hoped might just be a metre of pace down after their gruelling individual campaigns. It proved to be the case as Jamaica twice had to slow a touch to collect the baton, as the Americans made no mistakes.
The Nigerian quartet, in posting a time of 42.22s, broke the long-standing 42.39s National/African Record set by their compatriots, Christy Opara-Thompson, Faith Idehen, Beatrice Utondu and Mary Onyali, at the Barcelona 92 Olympics where Nigeria ended with a bronze medal.
Udo-Gabriel, whose inclusion in the team was questioned by some critics, shut her critics up for the umpteenth time with a well-executed first leg race before handing over to Ofili who sustained the momentum.
Then it was the turn of Chukwuma for the third leg and she did well before handing over to Nwokocha who finished off brilliantly.
Unfortunately, despite their record-breaking race, the Nigerian ladies still did not make it to the podium as they finished fourth behind the United States who won with a fast time of 41.14s.
Sunday was the first time in 11 years that the Nigeria women’s relay team participated in the final of the World Championships.
Incidentally, Nigeria had originally lost out on competing in the women’s relay events in Oregon before they literally sneaked in.
New doping infractions established against Blessing Okagbare knocked Nigeria off the last qualification spot they were occupying on the eve of the closure for qualifying entries for Oregon.
Okagbare and three others ran a time of 42.97s at the Yabatech Sports Complex, Lagos and that had kept them in the last qualification spot up until the unfortunate development.
However, one of the sixteen teams that had qualified ahead of Nigeria, France, eventually pulled out to make a way for Nigeria to not just come on board but to set a new African record.
Even though the medal did not come in Oregon, the relatively young Nigerian women’s relay team would be hoping to get it right at the Commonwealth Games starting this week in Birmingham and subsequent global meets; especially at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.