While Nigeria’s young athletes appeared to struggle for form at the ongoing World U20 Athletics Championship in Eugene, Oregon, USA, followers of the sport can take solace from a female discuss thrower with ancestry from their country.
Sports247 brings the story of Germany’s Nigerian-born female discus thrower, Favour Adesokan, who qualified for the final in Eugene after throwing 56.14 meters to rank third overall in the elimination round.
China’s Yixin Su led all qualifiers with 58.06m and Chenyi Ma followed with a season’s best 57.72m, while Adesokan was third overall, in another step forward for the 18-year-old Wattenscheid 01 athlete, who entered the contest as a reigning German under-20 champion.
While Adesokan romped into the women’s discuss final, Nigeria recorded mixed fortunes on the opening day of the championships, with Chigozie Rosemary Nwankwo and Tejiri Godwin advancing to the semi-finals of the 100m, while the mixed relay quartet of Dominion Udoh, Jecinta Lawrence, Perfect Faye and Faith Ezechukwu ran 3:26.35 to finish sixth in their heat, but bowed out in the first round.
In the women’s 100 metres, Chigozie Rosemary Nwankwo secured a place in the semi-finals after finishing third in Heat Three with 11.57 seconds, while Lucy Nwankwo, competing in Heat Five, placed fifth in 11.77 and missed qualification.
In the men’s 100 metres, Tejiri Godwin qualified for the semi-finals in his heat with 10.39 seconds, while Gift Bright, competing in Heat Seven, finished fifth in 10.60 seconds and did not advance.
On her part, Adesokan earlier stated that qualifying for the World Championships was a major relief for her and expressed a strong ambition to rank among the best discus throwers in the world, while hoping to surpass her personal best of 57.22 meters and push further on the global stage.
A report by World Athletics’ official website added in part, “The US team rocked Hayward Field on Wednesday, achieving the fastest U20 mixed 4x400m in history with 3:15.31 on the first night of competition at the World Athletics U20 Championships Oregon 2026.
“The quartet of Joshua Shelton, Taylor-Nicole Overton, Jaelen Hunter and Olivia Harris took more than two seconds off the previous best of 3:17.69 achieved by another US team at the 2022 edition of the Championships in Cali.
“Four athletes achieved the automatic qualification mark of 55.00m in the discus, China’s Su Yixin and Ma Chenyi leading the way with 58.06m and 57.72m, respectively. Germany’s Favour Adesokan threw 56.14 and USA’s Jaslene Massey 55.47m.”
