Nigeria smash African record but miss out on medal as USA win women’s 4x100m

Nigeria’s Joy Udo-Gabriel, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma, and Grace Nwokocha set a new mark of 42.22s at the World Championships in Oregon, USA.

The amazing quartet of Christy Opara-Thompson, Faith Idehen, Beatrice Utondu, and Mary Onyali has always been regarded as the greatest women’s 4x100m relay team to have ever come out of Africa.

For 30 years, the 42.39 seconds they ran in the heats on their way to a bronze medal finish at that year’s Olympic Games stood as the Nigerian and African record.

That is no longer the case after Joy Udo-Gabriel, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma, and Grace Nwokocha set a new mark of 42.22s at the World Championships in Oregon, USA.

Team Nigeria’s Beatrice Utondu, Faith Idehen, Christy Opara-Thompson, and Mary Onyali celebrate after placing third in the final of the Women’s 4x100m relay final at Estadi Olimpic de Montjuic, in Barcelona, Spain in 1992. Photo by Bill Frakes / Sports Illustrated.

Sadly, though, for the Nigerian team, they missed out on a podium spot as their amazing run was only good enough for a fourth-place finish as the United States shredded the form book and expert predictions by beating Jamaica to the gold medal with a world lead 41.14s.

The Jamaicans came in second with a season’s best 41.18s, while Germany placed third with a season’s best 42.03s.

On paper, Jamaica’s women’s 4x100m team looked unbeatable. Jamaica not only fielded the three world and Olympic medallists in the 100m, but in Elaine Thompson-Herah, they had the fastest woman alive in the 100m. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is the five-time and reigning world champion in the 100m and Shericka Jackson is the fastest woman alive in the 200m. Kemba Nelson, the leadoff leg, was also the 60m champion for the University of