Paris 2024: Mixed fortunes for Nigeria athletes in 100m as Favour Ofili misses out

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

One out of two registered Team Nigeria athletes qualified for the semi-final of women’s 100m of the Paris 2024 Olympics on Friday.

The omission of the national 100m champion, Favour Ofili, from the participant’s roster headlines the start of track and field events.

Only two athletes were registered for the 100m women’s heats.

On the tracks, Rosemary Chukwuma qualified for the women’s 100m semi finals while Tima Godbless could not make it from the heats.

Nigeria’s Chukwuma booked her spot in the semi-finals of the women’s 100m, coming through in third place in a time of 11.26 seconds.

Ewa Swoboda from Poland won the race in a season’s best of 100.99 seconds, with Dina Asher-Smith (Great Britain) finishing second in 11.01 seconds.

Chukwuma has been drawn in the tough 100m semi-finals. She will be up against the likes of Sha’Carri Richardson, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Julien Alfred and Gina Bass-Bittaye in heat 2.

Only the top two athletes will get automatic qualification to the final.

Meanwhile, despite a very good start, Nigeria’s Godbless finished sixth in her 100m women’s heat 7 in a time of 11.33 seconds.

Gambia’s Gina Bass-Bittaye won the heat clocking a time of 11.01 seconds to book an automatic spot in the semi finals.

Mujinga Kambundi finished second in 11.05 seconds and Delphine Nkansa in third place in 11.20 seconds.