Nigeria failed to win any medal at the
2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships at Sopot, Poland after Gloria
Asumnu finished seventh in the women’s 60m final and the quintet of
Omolara Omotoso, Folasade Abugan, Bukola Abogunloko and Patience
Okon-George finished fifth in the women’s 4x400m relay final on Sunday.
The relay team finished in 3:31.59 as the
USA team, featuring Natasha Hastings, Joanna Atkins, Francena Mccorory
and Cassandra Tate, won the gold in 3:24.83 ahead of the Jamaica team
which finished in 3:26.54, setting a new national record. Great Britain,
fielding Eilidh Child, Shana Cox, Margaret Adeoye and Christine
Ohuruogu, posted a season best in 3:27.90 to take the bronze medal.
Asumnu, who was the second African that
made it to the final besides Cote d’Ivoire’s Murielle Ahouré, finished
in 7.18 seconds, same time as eighth-placed Germany’s Verena Sailer.
Ahouré took the silver medal in 7.01
seconds, coming closely behind Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who
finished in 6.98 seconds. USA’s Tianna Bartoletta ran a season’s best in
7.06 to win the bronze medal.
Nigeria’s hope in the women’s 400m,
Regina George, clocked the fastest time in the first round by a
comfortable margin, registering a swift 51.60 season’s best to take the
first heat. But she withdrew from the second heat due to injury on
Friday.
The men’s 4x400m relay team, despite
posting a new African indoor record of 3:07.95, did not qualify from the
preliminary stage on Saturday.
Nigeria featured in the championships with 12 athletes and participated in four events.
Meanwhile, before Sunday, Djibouti had
never won a medal at the IAAF World Indoor Championships. But Ayanleh
Souleiman changed that in the men’s 1500m.
Wanting to avoid the bumping and barging,
the world 800m bronze medallist stayed near the front for most of the
race, tracked closely by Ethiopia’s Aman Wote.
Souleiman wound up the pace over the
closing few laps and covered the final 300m in 39.29 seconds to land the
gold medal in 3:37.52.
Wote held on for the silver medal in
3:38.08 with defending champion Abdalaati Iguider this time having to
settle for bronze in 3:38.21.
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