World Championships: Amusan leads Nigeria’s finest as National Athletics Trials begin in Lagos

Some of the best Nigeria’s track & field athletes at home and abroad  will  converge from today through Sunday at the Yabatech Sports Ground  as the National Athletics Trials begin in Lagos  for places to next month’s World Athletics Championships holding in Tokyo, Japan.

The three-day national trials is being used by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), to select athletes who will represent Nigeria Japan in September as well as members of Team Nigeria for the CAA Region 2 Senior Athletics Championships holding later this month in Accra  as well as the  contingent  for the upcoming 2025  Islamic Solidarity Games to be held in November in oil-rich Saudi Arabia (Riyadh 2025).

Even with a host of top athletes on parade, all eyes will be on world record holder in the women’s 100m hurdles event, Tobi Amusan and Olympic Games bronze medallist Ese Brune, who will be jumping alongside 2025 Africa U-20 Championships gold medallist Prestina Ochonogor.

At the recently  concluded CAA Championships In Abeokuta,  Ochonogor jumped 6.71m  but she will be facing a herculean task to leap longer with Brune in the field at YabaTech Sports Ground this weekend.

“The National Trials must be dealt with to secure a place in the Team Nigeria, it won’t be easy,” admitted Ochonogor.

There would also be attention on  rising sprint sensation Tima Godbless and several foreign-based athletes will also compete for a place in Team Nigeria’s roster to the Far East. Shot putter Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, 400m hurdler Nathaniel Ezekiel, and sprinter Udodi Onwuzurike are among those expected to light up the trials in the men’s event .

National 400m hurdle record holder Ezekiel Nathaniel equally gave a glimpse of what to expect  at this assemblage of Nigeria’s best athletes.

 “Every competition is a war, “ admitted  the 22-year-old  who not too long ago won the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships over 400m.“It’s either you conquer or you are defeated, it comes in various ways. I wish all of us an injury-free competition.”

Read Also: Nigeria to compete at 2026 Flag Football World Cup

Incidentally, some Nigerian athletes have already qualified for the World Championships—either through entry standards or their World Athletics ranking. In this exclusive  list are  the likes of  Tima Godbless, Rosemary Chukwuma, Kelly Ufodiama, Ella Onojuvwevwo, Temitope Adeshina, Ese Brume and wait for it, Favour Ofili

Ofili’s participation at the trials will be closely monitored after the huge media speculations that trailed her  potential switch of allegiance from Nigeria to Turkey.

In a related development, sources at the AFN  have confirmed  that  there would be due diligence  at this National Athletics Trials following the announcement  by World Athletics that  Track and field athletes aiming to take part in the female category in elite competitions will have to take a gene test from September.

The test will be in place in time for the World Championships which take place in Tokyo on September 13-21.

“It is really important in a sport that is permanently trying to attract more women that they enter a sport believing there is no biological glass ceiling,” said World Athletics president Sebastian Coe. “The test to confirm biological sex is a very important step in ensuring this is the case.”

The test for the SRY gene, which is part of the Y chromosome and causes male characteristics to develop, can be done by a cheek swab or a blood test.

If the athlete tests negative for the Y chromosome they are eligible to compete in the female category in world ranking competitions.

If it is positive, they can only compete in the female category in non-world ranking competitions or in another category other than the female one.

World Athletics noted that  the test which  will be administered by member federations, is “extremely accurate”, adding: “The risk of false negative or positive is extremely unlikely.”

The SRY test is the same one adopted by World Boxing when it brought in mandatory sex testing for all competitors this year.

Commenting  further on the new regulations and SRY test, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: “The philosophy that we hold dear in World Athletics is the protection and the promotion of the integrity of women’s sport. It is really important in a sport that is permanently trying to attract more women that they enter a sport believing there is no biological glass ceiling. The test to confirm biological sex is a very important step in ensuring this is the case.

“We are saying, at elite level, for you to compete in the female category, you have to be biologically female. It was always very clear to me and the World Athletics Council that gender cannot trump biology.

 “We particularly want to thank our Member Federations for their support and commitment in the implementation of these new regulations.”

The sport of athletics has long considered introducing eligibility criteria for women’s events, amid questions over biological advantages for transgender athletes and those with differences of sex development (DSD).

Transgender women who have gone through male puberty are currently banned by World Athletics from competing in women’s events, while the federation requires female DSD athletes whose bodies produce high testosterone levels to take medication to lower them in order to be eligible.