Heptathlete Kemi Francis will open Nigeria’s chase for African Championship medals when she takes to the track of the Côte d’Or National Sports Complex in St Pierre, Mauritius Wednesday morning for the 100m hurdles in the women’s Heptathlon.
Not ranked as the favourite for the event, the 29 year old will be hoping to become the fifth Nigerian woman to mount the podium as African champion in the event after the quartet of Bella Bell-Gam (1979 as Pentathlon), Patience Itanyi (1998), Patience Okoro (2008) and Uhunoma Osazuwa who set a new 6,153 points championship record six years ago in Durban, South Africa.
In the blue riband event, Nigeria will be seeking to re-establish a dominance that saw her athletes win nine of the 14 gold medals on offer between 1984 and 2008 in the 100m for men and 12 of the 19 in the women’s version between 1979 and 2014.
Nigeria last won the gold medal in the men’s 100m in 2008 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where Olusoji Fasuba completed his hat-trick of wins to become the first and so far the only African man to win the blue ribband gold three consecutive times.
For the women, Blessing Okagbare ran a then 11.00s championship record to win Nigeria’s 12th and final gold medal in the event in 2014. For Raymond Ekevwo, the reigning African Games 100m champion who is spearheading Nigeria’s chase for the ultimate title in the event, this is the perfect opportunity to return Nigeria as African champion 12 years after Fasuba last did.