Nigeria’s Ezekiel Nathaniel will be chasing a place in the final of the men’s 400 metres hurdles at the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Tokyo when he lines up in the semifinals on Wednesday, Bold Sports reports.
The 22-year-old has been one of the standout performers for Team Nigeria in Japan, cruising through his heat in style. Nathaniel clocked 48.37 seconds to win his race, finishing ahead of American Caleb Dean (48.67s) and Brazil’s Francisco Dos Reis Viana, who posted a personal best of 48.69s to claim third.
Drawn in heat two for the semifinals, Nathaniel will face stern opposition from Sweden’s Oskar Edlund, Kenya’s Wiseman Were Mukhobe, Jamaica’s Malik James-King, Qatar’s Ismail Doudai Abakar, Brazil’s Matheus Lima, Spain’s Jesús David Delgado, and Caleb Dean once again.
Despite the challenge, the Nigerian enters the race as a strong contender. He holds the fastest season-best time in his heat with 47.31 seconds and is the highest-ranked athlete in the group at fifth in the world, making him one of the favourites to progress. His semifinal is scheduled for 1:38 p.m.
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Elsewhere, world number one and Olympic champion Karsten Warholm of Norway headlines heat one, where he will battle Slovenia’s Matic Ian Guček, Botswana’s Kemorena Tisang, Germany’s Emil Agyekum, USA’s Chris Robinson, Great Britain’s Tyri Donovan, Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba and Brazil’s Francisco Dos Reis Viana.
Heat three promises fireworks with world number two Rai Benjamin of the USA and world number three Alison Dos Santos of Brazil drawn alongside Jamaica’s Roshawn Clarke, Great Britain’s Alastair Chalmers, Costa Rica’s Gerald Drummond, Qatar’s Bassem Hemeida, Botswana’s Victor Ntweng and Turkey’s Berke Akçam.
Only the top two athletes in each semifinal heat, along with the next two fastest across the three races, will advance to the final scheduled for Friday, September 19 at 1:15 p.m.
For Nathaniel, it is a golden chance to etch his name into Nigeria’s athletics history with a place among the world’s elite.
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