Archive | July, 2014

Oduduru wins 200m World Junior Silver with wind-assisted 20.25s, equalling 5th fastest Nigerians all-time!

26 Jul

Divine Oduduru became the first Nigerian to run as fast as 20.25s in the 200 metres for TWELVE YEARS, as he raced to a silver medal behind USA’s Tentravis Friday (20.04s) at the ongoing World Junior Athletics Championships in Eugene, USA for U-20 athletes. Oduduru’s official Personal Best remains as 20.66s, which he ran in the semi-final the day before, because his 20.25s was run with a tailwind of 2.3m/s, which makes it ineligible for record purposes as it is over the legal limit of 2.0m/s. Nevertheless, it is an incredible performance whose won the Nigerian Trials in 20.87s, and has a lifetime best of 10.30s in the 100 metres. His progression over the last year has been nothing short of meteoric, given that a year ago he was running 21.13s set at the World Youth Championships in Ukraine!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1InrJrJtyY

The significance of Divine’s run cannot be overstated – he beat much more heavily favoured athletes such as Jamaica’s Michael O’Hara (who beat him in the heats and semi-finals) into 3rd place and Anguilla’s Zharnel Hughes (who trains with Usain Bolt’s coach) into 5th place, and in so doing matched the FIFTH fastest men on Nigeria’s all-time list in the 200 metres! That will not be an official statistic given that it was wind-assisted, but his potential to run such a time NOW should fill Nigerians with excitement that perhaps we have an athlete here whom, with the right guidance and training, could become a serious Olympic medal contender in 2 year’s time! This result is certainly a breath of fresh air in what has so far been a bitterly disappointing championships for Nigeria. Even at the last edition in Barcelona 2 years ago, Team Naija came home with no medals, so this is a result definitely worth celebrating!
There had been some talk about why Divine was not also entered into the 100 metres at these championships, and his coaching crew must be commended for picking their battles wisely – the 100m Champion from these games, USA’s Kendal Williams failed to make it to the 200m final, likely due to exhaustion, a serious factor to consider at the U-20 level. The big question now is, does Nigeria have any plans to ship him straight over to Glasgow to compete in the Commonwealth Games in the coming week? He was listed on the Commonwealth Games team following the Nigerian trials, but it remains to be seen if his participation in the 200m in Glasgow has been properly planned for. Commowealth 200m starts this Wednesday (July 30th) – watch this space!
Photo finish of Divine Oduduru's 2nd place finish in the 200m at the 2014 World Juniors, in a wind-assisted time of 20.25 seconds!

Photo finish of Divine Oduduru’s 2nd place finish in the 200m at the 2014 World Juniors,
in a wind-assisted time of 20.25 seconds!

 
Nigeria’s 200 metres TOP FIVE (All-time)
 
1. Francis Obikwelu – 19.84s (1999), 20.01 (2000), 20.05 & 20.06 (1999)
2. Daniel Effiong – 20.10 (1994)
3. Olapade Adeniken – 20.11 (1992)
4. Oluyemi Kayode (RIP) – 20.22 (1992)
5. Davidson Ezinwa – 20.25 (1992)
5. Deji Aliu – 20.25 (2002)

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Brume goes for GOLD as IAAF World Junior (U-20) Championships commences!

22 Jul

Team Nigeria’s Kehinde Olubodun, Ese Brume, Samson Nathaniel, Adekunle Rilwan and Jennifer Edobi will begin the nation’s quest for medals on Day 1 of the 15th edition of the IAAF World Junior Championship, for athletes under the age of 20, which takes centre stage at the Hayward Field stadium in Eugene, Oregon, in the US from the July 22nd to 27th 2014. 

Most of the country’s representatives to the six-day championship also featured in last year’s World Youth (U-18) Championships held in Donetsk, Ukraine where Nigeria failed to get to the podium, though athletes like Divine Oduduru and Edidiong Odiong reached boys’ 200m and girls’ 400m finals respectively.

Nigeria has won a total of 10 gold, 12 silver and 7 bronze medals since inception of the championship, which commenced in 1986 in Athens, with the likes of five- time Olympian, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi and a host of others ensuring that they got to the podium.The reverse now seems to be the case, as such heroic displays have long since eluded Nigeria at the junior level – the contingent to the last edition in Barcelona, Spain returned home without a single medal two years ago.

However there seems to be a glimmer of hope with the participation of Ese Brume in the Women’s long jump, if all goes according to plan. Based on current form, Brume, who won the national title in Calabar last month, is the favourite to win the event as she comes to the competition with a Season’s and Personal Best of 6.68m, while her closest opponent, Maryna Bekh of Ukraine has an SB of 6.36m and PB of 6.78m. Brume will compete in the qualification round this afternoon where she is expected to have a smooth sail to the final which comes up on Wednesday afternoon.

Nigeria stands a slim chance of a podium appearance in the men’s and women’s 4x100m relays. The men’s team is ranked fifth in the world behind Jamaica, Japan, Thailand and Great Britain while their female counterparts are ranked sixth. Team Nigeria will likely fare better in the ‘mile relay’ (4x400m), where the  men’s quartet occupies second in the world ranking, just behind Trinidad and Tobago while the women’s 4x400m team are second behind Jamaica.

Nigeria’s sole participant in the men’s 100m will be Kehinde Olubodun, who has a PB of 10.49secs and will have his work cut out for him to even make the semis, in an event that has seen Team USA’s Trayvon Bromell run World Junior Record of 9.97 earlier this year. Japan’s Yoshihide Kiryu (PB 10.01s) and the Jamaican duo of Jevaughn Minzie and Michael O’Hara (10.16s & 10.19s respectively will be the medal favourites, as will Anguilla’s Zharnel Hughes (10.12s) who is attempting the 100/200m double – he is the fastest schoolboy in Jamaica and trains with Usain Bolt’s coach!

The duo of Adekunle Rilwan (46.21s) and Samson Nathaniel (46.42s) are set to compete in the preliminaries of the men’s 400m. Jennifer Adaeze Edobi will also feature in the women’s 800m while Bashiru Abdullahi will compete in the 110 Hurdles.

Follow the action from Day 1 of the World Juniors LIVE on SS2 TODAY from 5.50pm – 10.00pm (Session 1) and from 1.05 – 5.30am (Session 2)!

Team Nigeria (subject to change, according to the daily start-lists on the World Junior Champs website)

Men

1.Kehinde Olubodun (100m, 4x100m)

2.Divine Oduduru (200m, 4x100m)

3.Tega Odele (200m, 4x100m)

4.Rilwan Fasasi (400m, 4x400m)

5.Nathaniel Samson (400m, 4x400m)

6.Bashiru Abdullahi (110 Hurdles, 4x100m)

7.Fabian Edoki (Triple Jump)

8.Ini-Oluwa Oye (4x100m)

9.Omeiza Akerele (4x100m, 4x400m)

10.Obokinare Ikpefan (4x100m)

11.Sikiru Adeyemi (4x400m)

Women

1.Abolaji Omotayo (100m, 4x100m)

2.Deborah Odeyemi (100m, 200m, 4x100m)

3.Praise Idamadudu (200m, 400m, 4x400m)

4.Edidiong Odiong (400m, 4x400m)

5.Yinka Ajayi (400m, 4x400m)

6.Jennifer Edobi (800m, 4x400m)

7.Oluwatobiloba Amusan (100m Hurdles)

8.Ese Brume (Long Jump, 4x100m)

9.Nwanneka Okuelogu (Shot put, Discus)

10.Haisha Bisiolu (4x100m, 4x400m)

 

Team Nigeria in medals chase as Commonwealth Games in Glasgow take off!!!

22 Jul

Four years ago, the duo of Tosin Oke in the triple jump and Ajoke Odumosu in the 400m hurdles stood out as the country’s shining beacons in track and field as they struck gold in their respective events to ensure that the Nigerian anthem was played at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. As the world turns its attention to the 2014 edition which kicks off on Wednesday, the burning question on the minds of many is how Nigeria will fare this time around. Leading Team Nigeria’s conquest for medals is none other than sprinter/jumper, Blessing Okagbare, who is making her debut at the quadrennial championship, and who, almost solely, bears the burden of salvaging the country’s pride at the event holding from July 23rd to August 3rd.

Okagbare, the African record holder over 100m, is expected to take part in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and probably the long jump (though the gruelling schedule may not allow her to make an attempt for 4 medals in the space of one week). The 25 year old has particularly been active in the Diamond League this season where she featured majorly in the sprints, while only competing in the long jump in Shanghai, where she set a Meeting Record (MR) with a leap of 6.86m. Blessing faces the daunting task of securing her first Commonwealth Games title in the 100m in a field that has an intimidating line-up comprising of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the in-form Veronica Campbell-Brown, and Trinidad and Tobago’s Michelle-Lee Ahye, who comes to the competition with the fastest time of 10.85s. 

Okagbare went against the Jamaican duo only last week at the Diamond League in Monaco, where Campbell-Brown placed second (10.96s) behind USA’s Tori Bowie, who blew the rest of the field away with a World Lead (WL) of 10.80s. Even though Blessing raced to a Season’s Best (SB) of 10.97s, she finished in 4th, just behind Cote d’Ivoire’s Murielle Ahouré who was given the same time. 200m Olympic Champion, Allyson Felix, and World sprint double champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce placed 5th & 6th respectively, both with SBs of 11.01s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fvi0LSXaC0

The Delta State athlete however seems to stand a better chance of winning GOLD in the 200m, which has been her focus for the better part of this season. Okagbare currently tops the 200m standings in the Diamond League and looks the favourite to clinch the Commonwealth title ahead of Fraser-Pryce, who is still yet to hit optimum fitness this year. And though it is not certain if the Beijing 2008 bronze medallist will compete in the long jump, the event seems like a sure medal prospect for Nigeria if she participates, considering that the Americans, led by Triple World Champion Brittney Reese and World Lead this season, Tianna Bartoletta, are not part of the Commonwealth Games. 

Defending champion in the men’s triple jump, Tosin Oke may need to jump beyond 17 metres to retain the title he won in Delhi. He finished fourth at his last outing at the Glasgow Diamond League two weeks ago with a leap of 16.51m, though behind 3 Americans, who again will play no part at the Games, so that may bode well for his chances of defending his title. Oke’s PB of 17.23m was set at the national trials in Calabar in 2012 in the run-up to the London Olympics. 

Nigeria will also have an outside chance of a medal in the women’s 400m, though it is certain that defending champion, Amantle Montsho of Botswana will not give up her title without a fight – the African champion has an SB of 50.37s. The likes of Novlene Williams-Mills (50.05s) and Stephanie Ann MacPherson (50.40s) of Jamaica have all posted fastest times than Team Nigeria’s Regina George in the Diamond League. George comes to the games with an SB of 51.39s and placed sixth in Glasgow (51.82s) a fortnight ago. She would also have to contend with compatriots, Folashade Abugan, Omolara Omotosho and Patience Okon George who all denied her a medal at the national trials, as she relinquished her Nigerian crown from 2012 and 2013 with a fourth place finish.

The quartet of George, Abugan, Omotosho and Okon George should win at least Silver in the 4x400m at these games, if they can replicate the kind of form that saw them win a brilliant bronze medal at the inaugural IAAF World Relays in the Bahamas in May, in the 3rd fastest time ever run by a Nigerian female quartet in the 4x400m! Team GB could also pose a threat, if Christine Ohuruogu can find the kind of form that has so far eluded her this season, but don’t bet against Team Nigeria running Jamaica very close for the GOLD! 

An interesting twist to this year’s Commonwealth Games outing is the inclusion of at least five American athletes who recently secured the Nigerian passport and were selected to compete at the games. They include Dominique Duncan (100m), Mark Jelks (100m), Monzavous Edwards (100m), Nichole Denby (100m Hurdles) and Tyrone Akins (110 Hurdles). 

Jelks and Edwards placed first and second in the 100m at the national trials in Calabar last month in 10.23s and 10.39s respectively, and face a Herculean task as far as reaching the podium in Scotland is concerned. Trinidad and Tobago’s Richard Thompson ran 9.82s (a WL at the time) in June while Jamaica’s Nickel Ashmeade (9.97s) and Nesta Carter (9.98s) have also run under 10 seconds, a feat which is still yet to be achieved by a Nigerian sprinter since 2006! Will Nigeria’s American recruits break the nation’s 8-year duck when it comes to sub-10 second sprinting? They would almost certainly have to, to have any realistic hope of coming away with a medal at the Glasgow games!  

Watch out for Making of Champion’s in-depth analyses of Nigeria’s chances in the coming days, and updates of all of Team Nigeria’s performances in Athletics next week, LIVE and DIRECT from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games!

Nigeria’s Commonwealth Games Team

 

MAKING OF CHAMPIONS celebrates 1-year anniversary with new LOGO!

16 Jul

Making of Champions (MoC) Ltd, the company founded by Sports Entrepreneur & Film-Maker Bambo Akani, is a year old this month, and ahead of the start of the Commonwealth Games next week, we are celebrating our 1-year anniversary with the launch of this AWESOME brand new logo!

Making of champs3a cropped

The Making of Champions Movement has come a long way in the past year. It all started with the Making of Champions: “The History” film, which was made to showcase Nigeria’s rich Olympic medal history in Athletics (Track & Field) and lays the foundation for how Nigeria can return to reckoning on the world stage! And that is what this movement is all about. The first major highlight for the company came in August 2013 following the World Championships in Moscow, when the then Nigerian Sports Minister, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, personally commended MoC Founder Bambo Akani for his reporting on this blog of Blessing Okagbare winning Nigeria’s first World Championship medals in 14 years. At the behest of the Minister, Bambo was flown in from London to Abuja as a Sports Consultant to help run a 3-day strategy session on installing a High Performance System for Sports in Nigeria!

2013 ended with an international roadshow for Making of Champions: “The History”, where we took the film to 4 different cities across 3 continents, including Atlanta, London and Abuja, where the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) President and Technical Director, Solomon Ogba and Omatseye Nesiama, were our special guests, along with Nigeria’s newly appointed High Performance Directors for Athletics and all Sports respectively, Eric Campbell and Angie Taylor! The film consequently premiered at the iREP Documentary Film Festival in March 2014 and has received rave reviews everywhere it has screened! A special pre-Commonwealth Games Screening will take place at Eko Hotel this Sunday July 20th at 4pm. This will be the Nigerian Athletics Event of the year – don’t miss it!

Another highlight of 2013 was the Road to Brazil Documentary Shoot, which took place in Salvador Da Bahia in Brazil during the World Cup Draw in December! It featured several Portuguese-speaking Nigerian Exchange Students from Obafemi Awolowo University who were in Salvador for their year abroad programme, and were lucky enough to be there when the Super Eagles played in the Confederations Cup! Road to Brazil also featured several Brazilians fans and an Argentinian super-fan showing their support for the Super Eagles, such was the goodwill for Nigeria in Salvador, a city infused with Nigerian and Yoruba cuisine, language and religion, passed on from the slaves who were taken there during the transatlantic slave trade centuries ago! Road to Brazil was released online as a series of shorts during the World Cup, in support of a Nigeria team that did the nation proud with a 2nd round showing!

At the very core of Making of Champions is the firm belief that Nigeria can become the No. 1 Track & Field nation in the world within 5 years, and 2014 has been all about setting those lofty ambitions into motion! MoC Social Media was launched in April 2014, and in just THREE months, the interest and engagement for Nigerian Athletics has been overwhelming – we already have well nearly 6,000 fans across our social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! Our YouTube Channel has over 60 videos with a combined 12,500 views since 2013, while the viewership of this blog has more than quadrupled from just 3,000 in 2013, to over 13,000 in the first seven months of 2014! We are steadily growing a fan base and viewership that will soon attract the support of Corporate Nigeria to our cause, which is to revolutionise Athletics in Nigeria!

With such unprecedented growth of our Athletics fan base, MoC Ltd has also has to expand to keep up with the high demand for our content. We brought on a team to help with our Social Media Launch in April, and since then we have also brought on volunteers to write stories for the blog and manage our social media handles! The expansion will continue and very soon we will be recruiting for full-time Social Media Managers and Sports Journalists to write our stories. Once we have investor or sponsor funding in place, we will also be making hires for Sports Administration and Management Professionals, as well as coaches, as we seek to launch Nigeria’s first ever Professional Track Club, to train athletes at home to become our future Olympic and World Champions!

Perhaps the highlight of 2014 so far has been our live media activation at the first ever World Relay Competition in the Bahamas, which MoC Founder Bambo Akani attended as an accredited photographer and captured Team Nigeria’s best images from the competition, including a fantastic Bronze medal in the women’s 4×400 metres. He also coordinated a poignant Bring Back Our Girls campaign which the whole Athletics community participated in, from the star athletes such as Blessing Okagbare, Christine Ohuruogu and Yohan Blake, right up to the IAAF President himself, Lamine Diack. Bambo also reported live from the Nigerian National Championships in June, and from March to June he appeared as an athletics pundit in a new weekly segment on the Sports Tonight Show with Toyin Ibitoye on Channels TV!

We’re only half way through the 2014 Athletics season, and we’re building up to our live activation at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland next week, as well as the African Athletics Championships in Morocco in August. There’s also still plenty more to come from the International Diamond League circuit, which we have been reporting on, including live social media during each event! These are truly exciting times for us, as we believe that this is the beginning of the revival of Team Nigeria at the Olympics! Join us in celebrating our 1-year anniversary at the special pre-Commonwealth Games Screening of Making of Champions: “The History” at Eko Hotel, VI, Lagos this Sunday at 4pm!

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MAKING OF CHAMPIONS Film Screening @ EKO HOTEL on Sunday July 20th @ 4pm!

16 Jul

With the World Cup now over, and Team Nigeria getting ready to go in the Commonwealth Games starting this week, Making of Champions Ltd brings you the EXCLUSIVE Pre-Commonwealth Games screening of our new Athletics Documentary Film, MAKING OF CHAMPIONS: “The History”! 

MoC Eko Hotel Screening Poster

See below for the synopsis and teaser for the film! Let’s get behind Team Nigeria and Make Champions! Admission is FREE, but please RSVP to  management@makingofchamps.com to confirm your attendance and avoid any possible disappointment! Hope to see you there on Sunday!

 

SYNOPSIS

In late 2012, independent filmmaker Bambo Akani started the journey of making the feature-length documentary, Making of Champions: “The History” after seeing a country as populous as Nigeria, blessed with so many people of natural athletic ability, return from the London 2012 Olympics with a sum total of ZERO medals – the first time Nigeria had failed to medal at the Olympics since Seoul ’88. In truth, the decline has been steady since the Sydney 2000 Olympics – we just did not realise it.

Making of Champions: “The History” is a 75-minute film capturing Nigeria’s full Olympic medal history in Athletics (Track & Field) and lays the foundation for how Nigeria can return to reckoning on the world stage:

Making of Champions: “The History” traverses the globe to meet Nigeria’s former Olympic heroes and tell the stories of how they won their Olympic medals – Mary Onyali, Falilat Ogunkoya and Enefiok Udo-Obong, the only double Olympic medallists in Nigeria’s history, and Innocent Egbunike who was Nigeria’s head coach at the London 2012 Olympics. We meet former Nigerian medallists Francis Obikwelu and Glory Alozie in Portugal and Spain respectively, to find out why they switched from Nigeria to represent their adopted countries and finally, we meet all of Jamaica’s star athletes, such as Yohan Blake and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, to find out why the Jamaicans are so fast!

The ultimate goal for the film is to awaken Nigerians to the vast potential we have in Track and Field, rekindle the national interest for the sport, and start a movement that will enable Team Nigeria to once again compete with the best in the world! Why have we fallen so far? How can we get back to winning medals on the global stage? What does it take to Make Champions in Track and Field? This film answers all these questions and more, and is a call to arms for Nigerians everywhere to ensure that the legacy of heroes past is not lost forever in a sport in which Nigeria has limitless potential!

MAKING OF CHAMPIONS FILM SCREENING @ EKO HOTEL on Sunday July 20th @ 4pm!

15 Jul

With the World Cup now over, and Team Nigeria getting ready to go in the Commonwealth Games starting this week, Making of Champions Ltd brings you the EXCLUSIVE Pre-Commonwealth Games screening of our new Athletics Documentary Film, MAKING OF CHAMPIONS: “The History”! 

MoC Eko Hotel Screening Poster

See below for the synopsis and teaser for the film! Let’s get behind Team Nigeria and Make Champions! Admission is FREE, however be sure to RSVP to management@makingofchamps.com to confirm your attendance! We hope to see you there on Sunday!

 

SYNOPSIS

In late 2012, independent filmmaker Bambo Akani started the journey of making the feature-length documentary, Making of Champions: “The History” after seeing a country as populous as Nigeria, blessed with so many people of natural athletic ability, return from the London 2012 Olympics with a sum total of ZERO medals – the first time Nigeria had failed to medal at the Olympics since Seoul ’88. In truth, the decline has been steady since the Sydney 2000 Olympics – we just did not realise it.

Making of Champions: “The History” is a 75-minute film capturing Nigeria’s full Olympic medal history in Athletics (Track & Field) and lays the foundation for how Nigeria can return to reckoning on the world stage:

Making of Champions: “The History” traverses the globe to meet Nigeria’s former Olympic heroes and tell the stories of how they won their Olympic medals – Mary Onyali, Falilat Ogunkoya and Enefiok Udo-Obong, the only double Olympic medallists in Nigeria’s history, and Innocent Egbunike who was Nigeria’s head coach at the London 2012 Olympics. We meet former Nigerian medallists Francis Obikwelu and Glory Alozie in Portugal and Spain respectively, to find out why they switched from Nigeria to represent their adopted countries and finally, we meet all of Jamaica’s star athletes, such as Yohan Blake and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, to find out why the Jamaicans are so fast!

The ultimate goal for the film is to awaken Nigerians to the vast potential we have in Track and Field, rekindle the national interest for the sport, and start a movement that will enable Team Nigeria to once again compete with the best in the world! Why have we fallen so far? How can we get back to winning medals on the global stage? What does it take to Make Champions in Track and Field? This film answers all these questions and more, and is a call to arms for Nigerians everywhere to ensure that the legacy of heroes past is not lost forever in a sport in which Nigeria has limitless potential!

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Okagbare settles for third place as Schippers stuns 200m field at Glasgow Diamond League!

13 Jul

The late withdrawals of World Champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and this season’s world leader Tori Bowie from the women’s 200m race at the IAAF Diamond League in Glasgow had led many (or misled, as it turns out) into believing that the encounter was going to be a two-horse race between Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare and three-time world champion, Allyson Felix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxCwDib0-Ns

However the duo did not bargain for a third party in the person of Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands! It was a keenly contested race and Felix had all but won the race after holding off Okagbare by almost a metre, but it was Schippers who reigned supreme as she out-dipped the American on the line to win the 200m by just 0.01s, in a National Record (NR) of 22.34s, just two hours after setting another NR of 11.03s in the 100m B event!

Schippers is a 2013 World Championships bronze medallist in the heptathlon and she has also won European and World Junior titles in the same event. Felix came out a close second in 22.35s while Okagbare was third to cross the finish line in 22.41s, the slowest time she has clocked in her 2014 Diamond League campaign. Despite finishing 3rd in Glasgow, Blessing still tops the Diamond League standings with 11 points, with Felix close behind in 2nd with 9 points, and Schippers and Tori Bowie tied in third on 4 points.  Without the American threat at the Commonwealth Games, Okagbare still looks like a good bet for Commowealth GOLD in the 200 metres, though it remains to be seen if World Champion Fraser-Pryce can stage a miraculous upturn in her 200m form this season in the next 2 weeks! 

The 100 metres is a whole other story though – she will have the Jamaicans to contend with, along with Trinidad & Tobago’s Michelle-Lee Ahye, who has churned out several impressive 100m performances this season. She is unbeaten in 9 races this season and took another victory in Glasgow in a time of 11.01s, ahead of Fraser-Pryce (11.10s) and Cote d’Ivoire’s Murielle Ahouré (11.17s). Ahye is the world leader over 100m this season and has gone sub-11 at three different times (10.85s, 10.88s and 10.98s)!

In the 400m, Regina George’s return to the Diamond League circuit ended with a sixth place finish and a time of 51.82s, in a race that included USA’s duo of Francena McCorory (who won the race in 49.93s) and Sanya Richards-Ross (who was second in 50.39s), and the Jamaican pair of Novlene Williams-Mills and Ann Stephanie Mcpherson who placed third and fourth respectively (50.60s and 50.98s). Commonwealth Games defending champion, Amantle Montsho was fifth in 51.35s. The former world champion is not going to have an easy ride as far as the defence of her title is concerned, going by her inconsistency in the Diamond League, where she has only managed one win this season.

As it is, the odds are stacked against Regina’s getting to the podium at the Commonwealth Games where she is set to make her debut, because even compatriots, Folashade Abugan, Omolara Omotosho and Patience Okon George who finished ahead of her at the national trials, are not left out of the quest to win an individual 400m medal in Glasgow.

Defending Commonwealth and African Champion Tosin Oke finished fourth in the triple jump behind USA’s trio of Olympic champion, Christian Taylor (17.36m), world leader Will Claye (17.27m) and Chris Benard (16.54m). Oke’s leap of 16.51m is still some way off his PB of 17.23m; he may need to jump over 17 metres to successfully defend his Commonwealth title in Glasgow in a couple of weeks, and his African crown in Marrakech in August!

Botswana’s Isaac Makwala maintained his brilliant from to storm to the men’s 400m in 44.71s, ahead of London 2012 gold medallist, Christopher Brown (44.94s) of the Bahamas and Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson Smith (44.97s). For Makwala this was the second fastest time of his career – it will be recalled that only last week he eclipsed Gary Kikaya’s African Record of 44.10s with a new time of 44.01s in Switzerland, and went on to post a scintillating performance in the 200m just ninety minutes later in 19.96s, another National Record!

Meanwhile 800m Olympic Champion David Rudisha confirmed his readiness for the Commonwealth Games as he cruised to the 15th Diamond League win of his career with a world lead of 1:43.34. The victory has been long in coming for the 25-year old who after injury last year is just coming back to the form that saw him emerge as the World Record Holder in the 2-lap event at the London 2012 Olympics, and the only man ever to have broken the 1:41 barrier in the 800m.

The men’s 100m was won by Jamaica’s Nickel Ashmeade, who atoned for his false start in Paris last week to cross the line in an SB of 9.97s, same as Michael Rodgers of the USA who came second and  Nesta Carter in third in an SB of 9.98s. Former world champion, Yohan Blake pulled up and fell in the middle of the race and had to be wheeled away from the track, a sad scene that may signal the end of a second injury plagued season for the 2nd fastest man in history over the 100m and 200m!

Regina George & Tosin Oke return to the Diamond League, as Okagbare goes for 200m record

10 Jul

Nigeria’s poster girl in the 400m, Regina George will make a much awaited return to the IAAF Diamond League, in the ninth leg, tagged the ‘Sainsbury’s Glasgow Grand Prix’ slated to hold on July 11 and 12 in the Scottish city which will be hosting the Commonwealth Games later this month.

George’s race, which comes up at 8.38pm on Friday (July 11), will count as only the second Diamond League event she has featured in this season. The first was in Shanghai (May 18) where she finished eighth with a time of 51.39s. The 23 year old has not recorded much progress in the individual 400m since then, though she did post a top-notch performance at the inaugural IAAF World Relays in the Bahamas, where she led Nigeria’s 4x400m to a bronze medal with an impressive 49.4s split on the second leg, which was the fastest by any athlete in the race.

Her chase for a third Nigerian title ended in a shock defeat for George, as she finished outside the podium during the national trials held in Calabar last month. Her fellow World Relay Bronze medallists finished ahead of her – Folashade Abugan won the title in 51.39s, with Omolara Omotosho and Patience Okon George crossing the finish line ahead of Regina, who placed fourth with 51.67s.

Nevertheless her victory in Tuesday’s Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix may boost her confidence ahead of Friday’s race, even though she could only manage a winning time of 52.11s. Compatriot Gloria Asumnu also featured in the women’s 100m where she returned a time of 11.58 in fifth place, just after former world champion, Carmelita Jeter who was fourth with an SB of 11.56s.

George comes into the two-day competition with an SB of 51.30s and will face the herculean task of trying to upstage some of the big names in the women’s 400m including Olympic champion, Sanya Richards-Ross who won the event in Paris last week. Former world champion, Amantle Montsho who is the Commonwealth Games defending champion and USA Champion Francena McCorory will also be on ground to spice up the race, alongside the Jamaican duo of Ann Stephanie Ann McPherson and Novlene Williams-Mills. Reigning world champion, Christine Ohuruogu of Great Britain is not expected to pose a challenge as she comes to the competition with the slowest SB among the pack (53.14s).

Another Nigerian interest, in the men’s triple jump, is Tosin Oke, who currently doubles as the African and Commonwealth Games champion. The Nigerian champion no doubt wants to test the waters ahead of the Commonwealth Games, and is in form to do so, going by his jump of 17.21m at the national trials in Calabar, which equalled the third best jump of his career. He goes against a star studded field which includes two London 2012 Olympic medallists, Christian Taylor and Will Claye and Cuba’s Ernesto Reve who has an SB of 17.58m. This event comes up on Saturday (July 12) at 3.50pm at Hampden Park.

Last but by no means the least, Nigeria’s sprint queen Blessing Okagbare will once again race in the 200m on Saturday at 4.07pm. The Sainsbury Grand Prix surely holds a special place in the sprinter’s heart, going by her exploits during last year’s edition of the event, which was held in London to commemorate the Olympic Games. The Delta State athlete set a new African record of 10.86s in the heats, which eclipsed Glory Alozie’s existing record of 10.90s, and further lowered her time to win the final an hour later in 10.79s.

Okagbare has been concentrating on the 200m this season and will be looking forward to setting a record over the event soon. She currently tops the Diamond League rankings with 10 points, having won the 200m in Shanghai and Paris, and placed second in Eugene with a Personal Best of 22.23s, making her the third fastest Nigerian of all time, after Mary Onyali (22.07s) and Falilat Ogunkoya (22.22s).  Will the Sainsbury Grand Prix be the place where she sets another African record? World leader, Tori Bowie (22.18s), three-time world champion Allyson Felix and Jamaica’s double world champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce will be forces to contend with come Saturday.

The women’s 100m race comes up on Saturday and Cote d’Ivoire’s Murielle Ahouré will run in the 100m alongside world leader this season, Trinidad & Tobago’s Michelle Lee-Ahye (10.85s), Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and USA’s Carmelita Jeter, who is still struggling to hit top form this season. Jeter, the second fastest woman ever and former world champion comes to the meeting with an unimpressive SB of 11.56s.

Also watch out for Botswana’s Isaac Makwala who recently emerged as Africa’s fastest man in the 400m. The sprinter erased Gary Kikaya’s eight-year record of 44.10s with a new time of 44.01s at the Resisprint International meeting in the Switzerland, and then returned a time of 19.96s in the 200m to set another national record just ninety minutes later!

Jamaican star, Yohan Blake is the big name in the men’s 100m which takes place on Friday. He will go against Great Britain’s James Dasaolu, USA’s Michael Rodgers and Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago amongst others.

 

Follow the Glasgow Diamond League LIVE on Supersport, Friday 7-9pm SS6A (DSTV 206), AND Saturday 3-5pm SS2A (DSTV 202)

 

 

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Okagbare sets the pace in Paris with 200m victory!

6 Jul

Nigeria’s queen of the track Blessing Okagbare bounced back to winning ways during Saturday’s IAAF Diamond League Meeting at the Stade de France in Paris, where she returned a time of 22.32s to secure a win in the women’s 200m. This feat counts as her third victory in her 2014 Diamond League campaign and ninth overall in her career.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZSbsD21D-8

This victory will have re-confirmed Blessing’s position as a favourite for Commonwealth GOLD medals in the sprints later this month. In the 100 metres only two days ago in Lausanne, Okagbare did not finish the race after she stumbled out of the blocks, but she quickly shook off that disappointment and took the day in a keenly contested 200m race, which had the likes of Olympic champion, USA’s Allyson Felix and World Champion over 100m and 200m, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica in tow. 

Okagbare, no doubt aided by her longer strides, held her form well in the final 80m to edge out the stadium record holder Felix, who had taken the lead just around the curve. Felix, a three-time world champion, finished with a Season’s Best (SB) of 22.34s, just 0.02s off Blessing’s winning time.  Anthonique Strachan of the Bahamas was third in 22.54s, while Fraser-Pryce, who is still battling with her fitness levels, finished a disappointing fifth in 22.63s. 

Okagbare’s exploits have earned her the top spot in the 200m ranking with 10 Diamond Race points in her kitty. She won the event at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in May with a Meeting Record (MR) of 22.36, and the long jump as well (with another MR of 6.86m). She also finished second in the 200 (behind sprinting revelation, Tori Bowie of the US) at the subsequent Diamond League meeting in Oregon with a Personal Best (PB) of 22.23s. Barring an upturn in Fraser-Pryce’s form this season, Okagbare is looking like the favourite to win the 200m GOLD at the Commonwealth Games!

In other events, the men’s 100m turned out to be a dramatic one following the disqualification of Jamaica’s Nickel Ashmeade, who spent several minutes on the track protesting his false start before eventually being ushered away.  USA’s Michael Rodgers eventually won the race in 10 seconds flat, while Trinidad and Tobago’s Richard Thompson and 38 year-old Kim Collins of St Kitts & Nevis placed second and third in 10.08 and 10.10 (SB) respectively. Great Britain’s Chijindu Ujah, who was  competing in the Diamond League for the first time ever, placed sixth with 10.20s, while former European champion Christophe Lemaitre, despite massive home support, was unable to give his fans much to cheer, as he was the last athlete to cross the finish line –  he did however post an SB of 10.28s.

French fans however did have a hat-trick of wins to be excited about –  Renaud Lavillenie’s domination in the men’s Pole Vault with 5.70m,  Eloyse Lesueur, who upstaged USA’s Triple World Champion Brittney Reese in the Long Jump, with a PB of 6.92m, and  Benjamin Compaore, who emerged the surprise winner of the Men’s Triple Jump in 17.12m, just 1cm ahead of Olympic champion, USA’s Christian Taylor! 

Reigning 400m Olympic champion, Sanya Richards-Ross crossed the line in 50.10s to secure her first Diamond League win this season, a huge improvement from her first race of the season in Eugene, where she placed a distant sixth with a time of 51.29s. African and Commonwealth Champion Amantle Montsho could only salvage a fourth place finish (50.70s) in what was her fourth Diamond League outing in 2014, after Shanghai, Eugene and Oslo. 

With the Commonwealth Games just around the corner, Montsho will have her work cut out to stave off competition from Stephanie Ann McPherson and Novlene Williams-Mills to retain her 400m title – the Jamaican duo finished ahead of her in Paris in second and third, with times of 50.40s and 50.68s respectively!

The next leg of the IAAF Diamond League is slated to hold between July 11 and 12 in Glasgow, venue of the Commonwealth Games later this month!

 

2014 Diamond League Calendar

Doha, QAT – 9 May

Shanghai, CHN – 18 May

Eugene, USA – 31 May

Rome, ITA – 5 Jun

Oslo, NOR – 11 Jun

New York, USA – 14 Jun

Lausanne, SUI – 3 Jul

Paris, FRA – 5 Jul

Glasgow, GBR – 11-12 Jul

Monaco, MON – 18 Jul

Stockholm, SWE – 21 Aug

Birmingham, GBR – 24 Aug

Zurich, SUI – 28 Aug

Brussels, BEL – 5 Sep

 

 

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Athlete Interview: ALEX AL-AMEEN – 2nd place in 110m Hurdles at Nigerian Trials, formerly of Team GB!!!

4 Jul

25 year-old Alex Al-Ameen speaks exclusively to MAKING OF CHAMPIONS after finishing 2nd in the 110 metre hurdles (in 13.75s) at the 2014 Nigerian Trials

Congratulations for your 2nd place in the 110 hurdles at the Nigerian Trials. How do you feel about your race?

It was an okay race – I didn’t get out as well as I did yesterday (in the semis), but I had to go to the passport office this morning. They made me wait there for an hour, and then when I got here, the race was delayed by half an hour, so considering the conditions, I reckon that I ran an okay race

I can detect a bit of a British accent in your voice? How long have you been competing for Nigeria?

Yes, I am from London. This is my first time competing at the Nigerian Championships. My dad is Nigerian, and my mum is English, and I just recently got my (Nigerian) passport, so I am able to compete for Nigeria this year at the Commonwealth Games and African Champs. 

So how long have you been an athlete?

I’ve been doing it since I was 14. I went to the World Junior Championships for Great Britain and made the semi-finals, and I have been doing it ever since. This year, I’ve started taking it seriously with my coach, and ever since then I have been running PBs – I can’t complain

How old are you now?

I just turned 25.

So what made you decide to switch from representing Team GB to representing Nigeria?

Well, to be honest, I didn’t get picked by England for the Commonwealth Games, I was No. 4 for Great Britain. I knew that if I came to Nigeria I might have the opportunity to compete at the highest level, because I know that I can perform at the highest level. That’s how I came to my decision

So your 2nd place here means you have qualified for the Commonwealth Games for Team Nigeria, so congratulations. 

Thank you.

How do you feel about going up against the other countries, particularly the England team which you didn’t get into? What are your hopes for the Commonwealth Games?

Well, to be honest, my aspirations are to make the final, and I believe that I can mix it with the best of them. I just got my visa on Monday and booked my flight and come straight here, so my preparation hasn’t been that good for these championships, but I know that I am getting better with every race. Yesterday I ran 13.56s, my second fastest time, so I am getting better with every race. 

Ok, well congratulations again and see you at the Commonwealth Games!

Thank you.

Alex Al-Ameen, recently switched allegiances from Team GB, and placed second in the 110m Hurdles at the 2014 Nigerian Trials (his father is Nigerian)

Alex Al-Ameen, recently switched allegiances from Team GB, and placed second in the 110m Hurdles at the 2014 Nigerian Trials (his father is Nigerian)

* A week after the Nigerian Trials, Al-Ameen also competed at the British Athletics Championships (last weekend) in the 110m Hurdles, finishing 3rd in 13.64s. At this stage it is unclear whether this means he is still in contention for a place on Team England for the Commonwealth Games, after having already been named in Team Nigeria for the Commonwealth Games.

One former Nigerian Athlete who has made his feelings about the recruitment of US and UK athletes to Team Nigeria is Double Olympic Medallist Enefiok Udo-Obong, who did not mince words earlier this week on his blog where he expressed his strong feelings about Al-Ameen’s candidacy to represent Nigeria!

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