… set for today’s final podium positions
Nigeria’s long jump trio, Ese Brume, Prestina Ochonogor, and Ruth Usoro, are set to vie for podium positions in the final of the women’s long jump event at the Paris 2024 Olympics today Thursday August 15.
This achievement marks them as the first Nigerian trio to reach the final of an individual event at the Olympics.
The last occurrence of multiple Nigerian athletes competing in an athletics Olympic final was in Atlanta 1996, when Falilat Ogunkoya and Fatimat Yusuf both qualified for the women’s 400m final.
The three jumpers advanced to the final by ranking among the top 12 athletes in the event on Tuesday. Brume and Usoro qualified from Group A, while Ochonogor secured her spot from Group B.
Brume, who won a bronze medal in the same event at Tokyo 2020, recorded a jump of 6.76m on her third attempt, finishing second in her group behind the USA’s Tara Davis-Woodhall.
Her initial attempts yielded distances of 6.44m and 6.40m, both below the qualifying mark of 6.75m.
Usoro, who claimed gold in the triple jump at the African Games, also performed well. After a significant foul that measured around 7m, she delivered a jump of 6.68m, securing third place in her group behind Brume.
Ochonogor, the African Games bronze medallist, finished third in her group with a jump of 6.65m on her second attempt.
In the overall standings, Brume ranked fourth in the qualifying round, followed closely by Usoro in fifth, and the 18-year-old Ochonogor in seventh position.
Renowned for her consistency, Brume will lead Usoro and Ochonogor into the final on Thursday, hoping to secure another medal for Team Nigeria.
Although Brume has faced challenges in the lead-up to the Games, she is still considered one of Nigeria’s top medal prospects in Paris.
At 28 years old, she is a four-time African champion and won bronze in the event at the last Olympic Games with a jump of 6.97m in the final.
