Nigeria’s mixed 4x100m quartet has been named among the title favoruites in their category at this weekend’s World Relays Championship in Gaborone, Botswana, but nothing has been said about the country’s other five squads.
Sports247 gathered that, while race experts are mum on the chances of Nigeria’s men’s 4x400m, women’s 4×100 and 4x400m as well as the mixed 4x400m squads, the mixed 4zx100m appears among the strong tips to win gold.
This comes mostly sequel to their recent victory at the same venue in Gaborone this past March, when the team’s winning time of 41.44secs surprisingly edged them ahead of ahead of Kenya at the Lefika International Relays.
Team Nigeria may, therefore, returned home with gold in the mixed 4x100m event, which made its global debut last year, but they will have to overcome 23 other countries at the Debswana World Athletics Relays Gaborone 26 this weekend.
Nigeria’s biggest threat will come from Canada, who won the inaugural World Relays title in Guangzhou, China last year, when Sade McCreath, Marie-Éloïse Leclair, Duan Asemota and Eliezer Adjibi combined to clock 40.30.
Also to watch are Jamaica, which finished second in Guangzhou and they also return with twins Tia and Tina Clayton, who formed part of their nation’s silver medal-winning women’s team at the World Championships in Tokyo last year.
A preview by iaaf.og noted, “The top six teams in Gaborone will secure spots for the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest in September. Twelve teams will qualify for the World Athletics Championships Beijing 27.
“Nigeria already has experience of a mixed 4x100m win at Gaborone’s National Stadium, as their team ran 41.44 to triumph ahead of Kenya at the Lefika International Relays at the end of March.
“(Nigeria won it) when host nation Botswana finished fourth. Other teams to look out for include Switzerland, Netherlands and Germany. Competition in the newest discipline on the World Relays programme is set to be fierce.”
