Nigeria will be represented by a small six-member contingent at the World Athletics Indoor Championships 2022, which will take place on 18-20 March in Belgrade, Serbia. Read more: World Athletics Indoor Championships 2022 final entry lists released
Who will represent Nigeria at the World Athletics Indoor Championships?
The African nation will field a men’s 4x400m relay team, while Ese Brume and Ruth Usoro will line up in the women’s long jump.
Olympic bronze medalist Brume will make her season debut at the championships and she will be targeting her third successive global event medal, following her pair of third-place finishes at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar in 2019 and the delayed 2020 Tokyo Games last summer.
The 26-year-old closed out her season after the Olympics last August to concentrate fully on what will be a very busy 2022 campaign for her, and she is expected to be fresh and ready to go in the Serbian capital this weekend.
Brume owns an indoor personal best of 6.82m, set in Liévin in Feb. 2020, while she’s jumped over 7-meters twice in her career outdoor, including her PB and national record of 7.17m in Chula Vista, Calif., in May 2021.
Joining her in the women’s long jump at Belgrade 2022 is Ruth Usoro, who will be making the quick turnaround from competing at last week’s NCAA DI Indoor Championships in the USA to traveling for the world indoors in Europe.
Usoro, the 2021 NCAA indoor and outdoor champion at Texas Tech, was only able to finish fifth at the 2022 indoor championships in Birmingham, Ala., with an effort of 6.52m. The 24-year-old has a season’s best of 6.59m and owned an indoor PB of 6.82m from 2021.
The women’s long jump final will be on Sunday’s third and final day.
Only a the 4x400m relay for Nigeria men
On the men’s side, Samson Oghenewegba Nathaniel, who was part of the Nigerian 4x400m relay team that finished 5th at the World Indoor Championships in 2016 and a member of the mixed relay squad at the Tokyo Games last summer, headlines the four-man mile relay team.
Emmanuel Ifeayin Ojeli, Timothy Emeoghene, and Sikiru Adewale Adewale are the other members of the team, hoping to at least advance to the final of the event again.
The 4x400m heats at the World Athletics Indoor Championships 2022 will take place on Sunday.
Nigeria team:
Men
4x400m: Samson Oghenewegba Nathaniel, Emmanuel Ifeayin Ojeli, Timothy Emeoghene, and Sikiru Adewale Adewale
Women
Long Jump: Ese Brume and Ruth Usoro
