Nigeria’s national record holder, Ezekiel Nathaniel, has qualified for the semi-finals of the men’s 400m hurdles in his maiden Olympic outing in Paris.
Nathaniel has been having a fantastic season, from bettering his national record to qualifying for the Olympics and winning bronze at the NCAA Championships.
The Nigerian ran impressively from lane 3 to place 2nd in his heat with a time of 48.38 seconds, his fourth fastest time ever. Jamaica’s Roshawn Clarke won the race in 48.17 seconds, and Wilfried Happio secured the last automatic spot with 48.42 seconds.
Nathaniel is the first Nigerian athlete in 12 years to make the semi-finals of the 400m hurdles at the Olympics. The last Nigerian athlete to qualify for the semi-finals in this event was Amaechi Morton at London 2012. Before Morton, only the legendary Henry Amike reached the semi-finals, qualifying for the final at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics.
In contrast, Nigeria’s Chidi Okezie failed to progress to the semi-finals of the men’s 400m. Okezie finished fifth in the second heat of the repechage round, clocking a time of 45.92 seconds.