Team Nigeria shone brightly on Day 4 of the African U-18/U-20 Championships at the MKO Abiola Sports Complex, Abeokuta, winning multiple gold medals in dominant fashion — including two championship record-breaking performances from Prestina Ochonogor in the women’s U-20 long jump and the girls’ U-18 sprint medley relay team, Bold Sports reports.
Ochonogor was in a class of her own in the long jump, soaring to a massive leap of 6.71m — her season’s best and the third-best mark of her career — to win the gold medal.
The Paris 2024 Olympics finalist’s jump shattered the previous championship record of 6.33m set by Ese Brume in 2013. She also backed up her performance with strong follow-up jumps of 6.63m and 6.60m.
Earlier, the girls’ U-18 sprint medley relay quartet of Rosemary Nwankwo, Miracle Ezechukwu, Hafsoh Majekodunmi and Chioma Nwachukwu delivered one of the most commanding performances of the championships, running a Championship Record of 2:08.16 to clinch gold for Nigeria. They beat South Africa to second place, with Botswana settling for bronze.
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Nigeria’s relay strength further showed as the U-20 women’s 4x100m team of Lucy Nwankwo, Success Oyibu, Anita Enaruna and Chioma Cynthia Nweke stormed to gold in 45.58s, finishing ahead of South Africa and Ivory Coast. Despite drafting in a quarter-miler to complete the team, the Nigerian girls proved too strong for the field.
The men were not left out of the medal rush. The U-20 men’s 4x100m team stunned fans and rivals alike, outpacing Zimbabwe and Botswana with crisp baton exchanges to clinch gold. It was a surprising triumph for the quartet, especially considering only one of the runners — John Caleb — had reached the 100m final earlier in the week.
In the U-18 boys’ medley relay, South Africa got one back on Nigeria with a perfectly timed anchor leg from Stiaan Myburgh, holding off Nigeria’s Tosin Esan in the final stretch to win gold. Nigeria settled for silver, while Namibia took bronze.
Still, it was Nigeria’s Audu Emmanuel who kickstarted the medal celebrations for the country on Day 4, clinching the nation’s first medal of the day with a silver in the U-18 shot put.
He threw 18.61m, finishing second behind South Africa’s Walter van Rensburg, who won gold with 19.04m. Van Rensburg continues a family tradition in shot put, following the path of his older brother JL, who won the same event two years ago and later claimed silver at the World U-20 Championships in Peru.
Off the field, there was drama in the Mixed 4x400m relay final, where South Africa filed a protest against Nigeria after their anchor leg fell during contact with Nigeria’s Favour Onyah. After reviewing the footage, the jury dismissed the protest and instead disqualified South Africa, stripping them of their silver medal. Botswana were upgraded to silver, while Nigeria retained gold.
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