Nigeria sprint queen, Blessing Okagbare, and Seye Ogunlewe were the biggest winners on Friday, the final day of the All Nigeria Championship.
The tournament which serves as pre-Olympic preparation for athletes took place in Sapele, Delta State from Thursday to Friday.
Okagbare, 27, proved once again why she is Africa’s queen of the tracks by winning both the 100 and 200m titles.
In the 100m finals on Thursday, Okagbare beat last year’s winner, Gloria Asumnu, who is also her biggest challenger to win her seventh national title.
The Delta State born sprinter lost the title to Asumnu last year having missed the championship.
On Thursday, she set a new national record by finishing the race under 11.2s. The Commonwealth record holder beat her previous record of 11.6s which she ran in the 2010 edition.
As if that wasn’t enough, Okagbare went ahead to claim a sprint double by winning the 200m finals in a time of 22.78s on Friday.
Ogunlewe on the other hand, retained his title as Nigeria’s fastest man by winning both the 100m and 200m titles on Friday.
He surpassed his personal best time of 10.12s to retain his crown and also book a slot to the Rio Olympics.
The UK-based athlete didn’t stop there as he followed the footstep of Okagbare to claim a double by also winning the 200m finals with a time of 21.28s.
“I give thanks to God for making this possible. Winning the 100m event again and qualifying for the Olympics is a dream come true,” Ogunlewe said.
Apart from the pair, Emmanuel Gyang and Deborah Pam both won the 10,000m in the men and women categories respectively on Friday.
