Nigeria’s Ezekiel Nathaniel and Udodi Onwuzurike will take centre stage as Team Nigeria continue their campaign at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Nathaniel, 22, will line up in the men’s 400m hurdles semifinal after cruising through the heats with a winning time of 48.37 seconds.
The Nigerian, ranked fifth in the world with a season-best 47.31s, enters heat two as one of the leading contenders.
His rivals include Sweden’s Oskar Edlund, Jamaica’s Malik James-King and American Caleb Dean, who finished behind him in the heats.
Ezekiel Nathaniel. Photo Credit: Making of Champions
Only the top two in each of the three semifinals, plus the next two fastest, will advance to Friday’s final.
Udodi Onwuzurike will contest the men’s 200m, making his second appearance at the Championships.
Drawn in lane two of heat four, scheduled for 12:29pm Nigerian time, he carries both Nigeria’s hopes and his own ambition of breaking new ground.
The 22-year-old sprinter owns a personal best of 19.76s and a season’s best of 20.17s, ranking 30th in the world. He faces a stern test against Olympic and world medallist Kenneth Bednarek of the USA (PB 19.57s, SB 19.67s) and Canada’s Jerome Blake (PB 19.95s).
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Of the nine athletes in the heat, only Onwuzurike, Bednarek and Blake have dipped under 20 seconds.
Others in the line-up include South Africa’s Sinesipho Dambile (20.01), Saudi Arabia’s Abdulaziz Abdui Atafi (20.14), Japan’s Soshi Mizukubo (20.14), Switzerland’s William Reais (20.24), India’s Animesh Kujur (20.32), and Korea’s Seunghwan Ko (20.45).
Qualification rules mean the top three in each heat will progress automatically, with six additional fastest times advancing to the semifinals.
Udodi Onwuzurike. Photo Credit: X
Tokyo presents another chance for Onwuzurike to impress after reaching the semifinals at the Paris Olympics.
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He has continued to sharpen his craft in the Diamond League circuit and remains one of Nigeria’s brightest prospects, having already broken the 10-second barrier in the 100m and the 20-second mark in the 200m.
Team Nigeria – Day Five Schedule (September 17)
12:29pm – Men’s 200m (Heat 4): Udodi Chudi Onwuzurike
01:30pm – Men’s 400m Hurdles semifinal (Heat 2): Ezekiel Nathaniel
