Nigeria’s hopes of seeing one of their own ascend the winner’s podium in the World Athletics Championships in Moscow was dealt a huge blow on Monday when medal hopeful, Blessing Okagbare finished a disappointing sixth in the women’s 100metres final.
The 24 year-old finished with a time of 11.04 secs, enough to settle in sixth place. Her fierce rival and World Champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won the race in tremendous fashion, breezing past the finish line in a time of 10.72 seconds to take the Gold medal.
Ivorian Murielle Ahoure took Silver, while Carmelita Jeter completed the honours in third.
Okagbare had a poor start and couldn’t recover, giving Fraser-Price and others the room to zing past her.
“I had my obstacles. I started to feel pain underneath my left butt cheek. It was really hurting but I knew what I worked for. I just came out here and I executed my race. I wasn’t focused on anyone else. It was all about execution.”
All hope isn’t lost though; Okagbare still has the 200m and the 4x100m relay to look forward to.
