Tickets to London 2017 at stake as athletes burn Abuja tracks

Brume targets personal best in long jump
All eyes will be on the Abuja National Stadium today where foreign and home-based athletes will gather to seek qualification tickets to the London 2017 IAAF World Championships. It is the 2017 All Nigeria Open Track and Field Championship, which is the country’s last qualifier to the London meet.

Among top foreign-based stars expected to grace the three-day event are US-based sprinter, Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor and North Cyprus-based long jumper, Ese Brume.

However, it was not clear yesterday if Okagbare-Ighoteguonor will compete in the event since she has already booked her ticket to the London 2017 World Athletics Championship in the 100m, 200m and the long jump.

For Brume, the championship holds so much to her passage to London. She told The Guardian yesterday that her target was to surpass her Personal Best leap of 6.83m she achieved last year during the last Golden League held in Akure, Ondo State.

“The target I have set for myself in this national trials is to surpass the 6.83m Personal Best in my long jump event. I have been looking forward to this event,” Brume stated.

Brume needs to jump 6.75m to meet the qualification mark for the London 2017 IAAF World championship.

According to programme of event made available to The Guardian yesterday by the AFN, the competition will commence this morning with the 20k Walk final for both male and female athletes at 8.00 a.m. It will be followed by the javelin men’s final. A brief opening ceremony will follow.

Tomorrow, the men’s hammer will take place at 9.00am, followed by the women’s heptathlon long jump. The relays event for both male and female will commence at 11.10am, just as the 100m final for male and female will take place at 4.00pm.

Brume and other competitors in the long jump will take their turns at 2.05pm tomorrow.

There was initial fear that the national trials might not hold following the postponement of the bye-election of the AFN presidency to July 20 by the appeals committee earlier in the week.