Nigeria’s women’s 4x400m relay team delivered an impressive performance at the Making of Champs Athletics Classics in Calabar, Cross River State, securing qualification for the World Athletics Relays scheduled for May in Botswana.
The Nigerian quartet of Patience Okon-George, Anita Enaruna, Treasure Okereke and Jecinter Lawrence produced a strong run on the final day of the competition, clocking a time of 3:31.14.
The performance lifted Nigeria to 21st place in the global rankings and pushed Mexico out of the qualification slots for the global relay event, which will be staged on African soil for the first time.
Team Ethiopia finished second in the race with a time of 3:38.31, while Nigeria’s B team placed third after posting 3:40.50.
However, Nigeria’s men’s 4x400m relay team narrowly missed out on qualification despite recording a respectable time of 3:04.59, just under two seconds outside the required mark of 3:03.
