Nigeria’s 4x400m mixed relay team faces Jamaica, others today

Nigeria’s 4×400 mixed relay team

The 19th World Athletics Championships will begin today in Budapest, Hungary, with Nigeria’s 4×400 mixed relay team pitched in what looks like a tough group with strong teams like Jamaica, Poland and The Netherlands.

The qualifying heat will begin at 11.16am, and Team Nigeria must put up a great performance to outrun other contenders in Group B. Apart from Jamaica, Poland and the Netherlands, the group also has Switzerland, France, Czech Republic and Germany.

To battle in Group A are Portugal, Ireland, Belgium, Kenya, Italy, Great Britain, Dominican Republic, Hungary and the United States. At the last edition of the World Championships held in Eugene, Oregon, USA, the Nigerian 4x400m mixed relay quartet of Imaobong Nse Uko, Nathaniel Samson, Dubem Amene and Patience Okon-George narrowly missed a podium finish. They placed sixth and shared the $8,000 prize money.

The money was part of the $8,4million prize money put on offer at the 18th World Athletics Championships. Then at Oregon, the Nigerian quartet ran 3:16.21 to come sixth in the final to become the first 1600 mixed relay team to get to the final of a global championship. The duo of Amene and Okon-George ran the fastest legs in that team’s historic run.

The same group of athletes will fly Nigeria’s flag this morning in Budapest, and the Technical Director of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Samuel Onikeku, is optimistic they will survive despite facing some tough oppositions in the group.

“I am confident our team will qualify for the final because the athletes have worked hard for this championships,” Onikeku told The Guardian, yesterday.

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