World Champion and African queen of the tracks Blessing Okagbare will lead Nigeria’s athletes to the 2015 athletics World Championship in Beijing, Peoples Republic of China.
According to the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) 23 athletes made up of 18 female and 5 male had been selected to compete at the 15th IAAF World Championship billed for August 22-30, 2015.
Okagbare, an Olympic medalist, was named in the 100/200/400 meters race alongside Gloria Asumnu, Stephanie Kalu, Deborah Odeyemi, Cecilia Francis and Ngozi Onwumere.
Regina George, Patience Okon, Oluwatosin Adeloye , Etim Magaret , Funke Oladoye and Rita Ossai were named in the 4x400m race.
Others on the list according to VON include: Commonwealth champion and African Junior Championship triple gold medalist, Ese Brume (long jump), All Africa Games two-time champion, Doreen Amata(high jump),Lindsay Weyimi Lindley(100mH), Amaka Ogoegbunam (400mH), Chinwe Okoro (discuss) and Uhunoma Naomi Osazuwa (heptathlon).
The male athletes on the list are: Ogho- Oghene Egwero (100m), Odele Tega Peter (200m), Tyron Akins (110m), Ukaoma Miles (400mH) and Tosin Oke (Triple jump).
Okagbare has set her targets for the 2015 IAAF World Athletics Championships in China.
She qualified for the event by virtue of her performances in the Diamond Leagues, said she wants to better her present records at the competition.
“I’d like to break the 10.7 seconds mark for the 100 metres and the 22.8 seconds mark for the 200 metres, and I want to jump further than 7.3 meters in the long jump,” she said.
“I have goals written up and posted around my room. I write them as soon as I wake, when I’m feeling fresh.”
She said, “I have started training for both (sprints and jump). I train for both on the same day. For the jump, I practice techniques and afterwards I once switch to the sprints, focusing on my speed work, especially my starts, which is what I battle with.”
“I start at 6am every morning in the gym before I run; you get muscles from explosive training. The power of my runs comes from doing weight training and the speed comes from track running,” she added.
The 15th IAAF World Championship will be the largest sporting event to take place at the Beijing National Stadium (Bird Nest) since the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Posted by Janice Johnson
