Nigeria’s latest track and field star, Nathaniel Ezekiel is cherishing his fourth position placement and has nothing against officials of this year’s World Athletics Championship in Tokyo, Japan, who initially upgraded him to the men’s 400m hurdles’ bronze medal, but quickly reverted it.
Sports247 reports that Ezekiel was at the centre of an evening of heated confusion in Tokyo, as he was upgraded into third spot after USA’s Rai Benjamin was initially stripped of his gold medal for knocking over a hurdle before crossing the finish line in a time of 46.54secs.
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Alison dos Santos of Brazil was second with 46.84s and Abderrahman Samba of Qatar placed third at 47.06, while Ezekiel got fourth spot on 47.11, just ahead of Norway’s world record holder, Karsten Warholm who fell short in fifth.
The officials initially upgraded Ezekiel to third spot after Benjamin’s infringement was regarded as an obstruction to other competitors but, even before the winner’s punishment was overruled, the 21-year-old Nigerian openly rejected the first decision.
Ezekiel, who could have been the next Nigerian male track quartermiler to get a World Athletics Championship medal after Francis Obikwelu’s silver at Seville 1999, pointed out, “(Benjamin) kicked the hurdle but I was not really affected by it. I just adjusted, tried to keep going, and that really didn’t affect me.
“He was celebrating but was called back, and I then came up to third. That made me feel for him. It was a big win for him, and I do not think it was proper for them to strip it from him.”
The vastly-improved athlete from Stanford University in the USA went on to look at his personal efforts in the men’s 400mH final at Tokyo 2025 and, while admitting that he personally gave the race his best shot, he pointed out that Benjamin deserved the gold medal.
Ezekiel added, “Everyone came out here to put in a lot of work, and that man deserves it. I’m also extremely proud of myself for being able to make it to the world finals.
“I’m always confident but, at the same time, I do not underrate my fellow competitors, because anyone could virtually run fast at any time.”
He concluded by acknowledging the presence of his heartthrob, who he cited as one of the biggest factors motivating him to the high point his career has amazingly taken this year, but admitted he has to talk to his coach about adding improvements to his form.
“I just go in there, and I try to executive what I’ve learnt. I was fully ready for this race. I’m going to talk to my coach, and we’ll make the right adjustments.
“I’m also happy with the presence of my partner with me in Tokyo. She’s been supporting me all through the whole year. She was at the NCAA with me and in Nigeria.
“It’s really amazing to have her around and, after my race, it’s good to see someone I know looking at me and picking my odds,” Ezekiel disclosed.
