Nigerian athlete Ezekiel Nathaniel has been upgraded to bronze in the men’s 400m hurdles final at the World Championships in Tokyo after a dramatic late twist.
Nathaniel clocked a Nigerian record of 47.11 seconds to finish fourth, just 0.05s off the podium.
The race was initially won by American Rai Benjamin in 46.54s, with Brazil’s Alison dos Santos second and Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba third.
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But Benjamin was later disqualified for displacing a hurdle and impeding another athlete, pushing Nathaniel into third place.
Nathaniel Ezekiel. Photo Credit: Making of Champions
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It marks Nigeria’s first men’s World Championship medal since Francis Obikwelu won silver in 1999.
Earlier in the championships, on 15 September, Tobi Amusan produced a late surge to claim silver in the women’s 100m hurdles.
The Nigerian clocked 12.29s, narrowly missing gold to Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji, who set a national record of 12.24s. America’s Grace Stark took bronze in 12.34s.
