Nigeria retain women's 4×400m crown, finish fourth at Africa Championship
Nigeria’s women’s 4x400m relay team capped off a strong outing at the 24th African Athletics Championships in Ghana by securing the country’s fourth gold medal of the competition.
The quartet of Esther Okon, Toheebat Jimoh, Jecinter Lawrence, and veteran Patience Okon-George produced a commanding performance in the final, clocking 3:29.25 to successfully defend Nigeria’s title ahead of Ethiopia and Kenya, who settled for silver and bronze respectively.
Okon-George once again delivered on the anchor leg, guiding the team home in style to claim her second gold medal of the championships after helping Nigeria win the mixed 4x400m relay earlier in the tournament.
Rosemary Chukwuma also added to Nigeria’s medal tally after finishing second in the women’s 200m final with a time of 23.60s. The silver medal completed an impressive campaign for the Nigerian sprinter, who left Ghana with three medals following gold in the women’s 4x100m relay and silver in the 100m event.
Côte d’Ivoire’s Maboundou Kone won the women’s 200m title in 23.36s.
In the men’s 200m final, Cheickna Traore of Côte d’Ivoire stormed to gold in 20.32s, ahead of Botswana’s Phaezel Prince Selepe and South Africa’s Mihlali Xotyeni, who claimed silver and bronze respectively. Nigeria’s Chidi Okezie finished sixth in the race.
Nigeria, however, narrowly missed out on another relay medal in the men’s 4x400m event, where Zimbabwe claimed gold, Kenya took silver, and Morocco secured bronze.
Team Nigeria ended the championships with a total of 12 medals, four gold, five silver, and three bronze medals. Three of the country’s gold medals came from relay events, while Tobi Amusan delivered the only individual gold medal performance for Nigeria.
The Nigerian contingent finished fourth on the overall medal table behind Kenya, South Africa, and Ethiopia.
Kenya emerged overall champions with 17 medals, including six gold, four silver, and seven bronze medals, while South Africa also recorded six gold medals but finished second with a total of 14 medals. Ethiopia placed third with five gold, four silver, and six bronze medals.
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