By Victor Kanayo
Nigeria may likely not present men’s and women’s 4x100m relay teams at the upcoming 2025 World Athletics Championships scheduled for Tokyo, Japan.
This is after Team Nigeria suffered a major blow as the Netherlands went ahead in the qualification race with a record-breaking performance at the European Team Championships in Madrid, Spain.
Jostle For Place
Both nations had previously been tied in 15th position with identical times of 38.20s, which would have been enough to clinch one of the final two qualification spots based on time.
At the European competition, the Dutch men’s quartet clocked a sensational 37.87s, setting a new national record, championships record, and a continental lead.
With their latest performance, Nigeria has stepped down to 16th position, being the last spot of the provisional qualification bracket.
Available Entries
Heritage Times HT reports that with only 16 teams qualifying for the relay events in Tokyo, 14 from the World Relays in Guangzhou and two others based on the top performance lists as of August 27, Nigeria’s position is now in an uttermost shaky stand.
Currently sitting 16th, the men’s team could be bumped further down the list should any of Brazil (38.40s), Jamaica (38.45s), Trinidad & Tobago (38.46s), or other nations improve their times in the coming months.
More Woes
For the women’s category in 4x100m, Nigeria is placed 17th on the current top list with a best time of 42.70s.
The West African athletics powerhouse is behind Australia (42.48) and Ivory Coast (42.63), the final two countries currently occupying the time-based qualifying spots.
Before August 24, the deadline for any opportunity to improve by countries, Nigeria can, however, leverage on few windows available.
Salvage Opportunities
They include the Nigerian Championships (July 31–August 2), the Togo Championships (August 9), the CAA Region II Championships in Ghana (August 15–16), and the Ghanaian Championships (August 21–22).
The Nigeria athletics performance has nosedived in recent times, with top performer Favour Ofili making moves to switch allegiance to Turkey, about a year after she was denied a place to compete in the 100m at the Paris Olympics.
