31year-old Chukwuebuka Enekwechi made
history as the first
Nigerian man to win
three straight gold medals in
the Shot Put event in African
Athletics Championships history.
Enekwecho also becomes the third African man
to do so after Egypt’s Ahmed
Mohamed Ashoush (1984, 1985
and 1988) and Burger Lam-
brechts who won in 1998, 2010
and 2012.
The Nigerian threw 21.20m
to equal the Championships
record in winning his second
title two years ago in Mauri-
tius.
He has also become the first
African to hit the 21m mark in
three (consecutive) editions of
the championships after be-
coming the first to do it in two
editions following his victory
two years ago in Mauritius.
The Nigerian set Champi-
onships record in each of his
first two editions and has now
become the first African to do
so in three editions.
Meanwhile, Favour Ofili’s
11.22 seconds run to win her
opening round heat at the 23rd
African Athletics Champion-
ships is the fastest opening
round run by a Nigerian in all
conditions since 2002 in Rades,
Tunisia where Endurance
Ojokolo ran a wind-aided 11.21
to cruise into the semifinals.
It is also the fastest time re-
corded by a Nigerian woman
in the entire Championships
since 2014 when Blessing Ok-
agbare ran 11.00 seconds to
set a Championships record
on her way to winning her
second 100m title at the Cham-
pionships.
Ofili’s time in Douala, Cam-
eroon, was not the fastest on
the day as Marie Jose Ta Lou-
Smith, the 2018 champion
cruised almost effortlessly to a
10.14 finish ahead of Nigeria’s
Rosemary Chukwuma to win
the heat.
The third Nigerian in the first
round, Olayinka Olajide also
made it to her first semifinal in
her debut in the Championships.
She ran 11.67 to win her heat.
Ofili and Chukwuma car-
ry the hopes of millions of
Nigerians who are expecting
a Nigerian to be crowned Afri-
can champion for the first time
since Okagbare won in 2014 in
Marrakech, Morocco.
