Summary
– AFN unveils 40 athletes for 2024 Championship
– Tobi Amusan, Ese Brume, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi featured
– Athletes qualified at Benin City trials
– Championship: June 21-26 in Douala, Cameroon
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, has unveiled the names of 40 athletes who will represent the country at the 2024 African Senior Athletics Championship in Douala, Cameroon.
Top on the list are women’s 100m hurdles world record holders, Tobi Amusan, Ese Brume and Chukwuebuka Enekwechi.
Other prominent names on the list are, Favour Ofili, Favour Ashe and Chidi Okezie.
All the athletes secured qualification for the competition at the Nigerian Athletics trials held in Benin City, Edo State this week
The 2024 African Senior Athletics Championship will run from Friday, June 21 to Wednesday, June 26.
The athletes are expected to use the competition as part of their preparation for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Benin City, Record Holder in the 100m hurdles, Tobi Amusan said they are going to Douala to display their talents.
“We are Nigerians, and we are going to Douala to show that spirit of ‘we can do it.’
Also speaking, newly crowned 100m champion, Favour Ofili said: “I am confident we will top the medals table in Douala.”
Long jumper, Ese Brume also promised to do her best to ensure Nigeria finish well in Douala.
In the same vein, Temitope Adeshina will be seeking to become the first Nigerian woman to be crowned African champion in the high jump event after silver medal finishes by Nneka Ukuh and Doreen Amata.
Amusan, on the other hand, is not only the defending 100m hurdles champion at the championships, she will also be aiming for a hat-trick of high hurdles titles after winning in 2018 and 2022. If she succeeds, she will become the third Nigerian nay African woman to win the event three straight times after Maria Usifo and Glory Alozie.
Also listed are sprinters Ushoritse Itshekiri, Kanyinsola Ajayi and Godson Oghenebrume for men and Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma and Tima Godbless for the women. While the men will be seeking to return Nigeria to the podium since 2008 when Olusoji Fasuba won for the third consecutive time, the women will be seeking a first for Nigeria since 2014 when Blessing Okagbare ran a then Championships’ record of 11.00 to win the title.
In the 400m, reigning African Games champion, Chidi Okezie has been listed alongside teenage sensation, Samuel Ogazi and Dubem Amene with the sole task of returning Nigeria to the podium as African champion 26 years after Clement Chukwu won the gold in Dakar, Senegal.
About African Championships in Athletics
The African Championships in Athletics is a continental athletics event organized by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), the continental association for the sport in Africa. Since its inaugural edition in 1979 it was at first organised intermittently with nine editions held in fourteen years until 1993. Following the tenth edition in 1996 it has been organised biennially on even years, and is always held in the same year as the Summer Olympics. The 21st edition was held in Asaba, Nigeria in August 2018.
The event featured a men’s marathon from 1979 to 1990. Following it being dropped from the programme an African Marathon Championships was briefly contested.
The event programme has roughly matched that of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, with the exception of the 50 kilometres race walk.
