Nigeria’s Success Oyibu has secured a place in the women’s 200m final at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Eugene, Oregon, after emerging victorious in her semifinal.
Oyibu clocked 23.13 seconds to win her semifinal, narrowly finishing ahead of South Africa’s Rume Burger, who crossed the line in 23.18 seconds.
The Nigerian, who boasts a season’s best of 22.90 seconds, will now turn her attention to the final as she seeks a place on the podium.
Reflecting on her semifinal performance, Oyibu explained that she deliberately conserved energy because her priority was to qualify for the final.
“The race was good, I feel like I can do more, but the plan was to just survive. The semifinal was hard, the job was to just get in. Now it is time to just win,” she said.
Oyibu also celebrated Jessica Oji’s historic gold medal in the women’s shot put, but insisted that her attention was now firmly on her own event.
“I am happy for Jessica’s win in the shot put, but now I am fully focused on my own final,” she added.
Elsewhere, Nigeria’s Precious Ebitimi Opinion finished seventh in the men’s triple jump final after recording a best effort of 15.82m.
Michael-Andre Matthew Edwards claimed the gold medal with a 17.08m leap, while America’s Miles Nesmith and China’s Zhuoyue Wang completed the podium.
Nigeria has enjoyed a promising outing in Eugene, highlighted by Oji’s gold medal-winning performance.
The country’s mixed 4x100m relay team has also booked a place in the final after setting a new Nigerian Under-20 record of 41.91 seconds, with Ezechukwu running the anchor leg.
Oyibu will now look to cap Nigeria’s impressive campaign with another strong performance when she lines up in the 200m final.
