By Abiodun Adewale
Nigerian athletes have blamed jet lag and their late arrival in the United States for some of their disappointing performances at the 2026 World U-20 Athletics Championships in Oregon, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Nigeria’s mixed 4x400m quartet of Jecinta Lawrence, Faith Ezechukwu, David Udoh and Perfect Faye missed out on the final after finishing sixth in their heat at the championships.
Nigeria won the inaugural mixed 4x400m title in Nairobi in 2021 when Johnson Nnamani, Imaobong Nse Uko, Opeyemi Oke and Bamidele Ajayi combined to clock 3:19.70 in the final.
However, the current quartet were unable to emulate their predecessors, with the athletes citing the team’s late arrival as a factor in their performance.
Team Nigeria departed for the World U-20 Championships on Tuesday and arrived in the USA only hours before the morning session began on Wednesday.
“The journey was stressful, and yet we did well with our best efforts,” Ezechukwu said.
“Had it been that we arrived earlier and had time to rest properly, we could have done better, but we still have more events to go,” Lawrence added.
Despite their disappointment in the mixed relay, Ezechukwu said she was acclimatising well and hoped to perform better in her individual event.
Like the mixed relay quartet, Tejiri Godwin, who was one of Nigeria’s few qualifiers on the opening day, competed in the men’s 100m semi-finals on Thursday but was unable to progress.
The youngster gave it a good run in the semi-finals, clocking 10.34s to finish sixth in his heat.
He is expected to be back in action in the men’s 4x100m relay, where he will be looking to deliver for Team Nigeria.
Rosemary Nwankwo also missed out on the women’s 100m final on Thursday after finishing fifth in her heat in 11.54s.
African U-18/U-20 200m champion Success Oyibu also crashed out in the women’s 100m.
Nigeria is fielding 15 athletes in Oregon, comprising 10 females and five males.
