By Abubakar Yunusa
Nigeria’s Ezekiel Nathaniel finished fourth in the men’s 400m hurdles final to miss out on a medal at the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Friday.
Nathaniel clocked 47.11 seconds to finish in fourth place at the Tokyo National Stadium.
USA’s Rai Benjamin (46.52 seconds), Brazil’s Allison dos Santos (46.84), and Qatar’s Ismail Doudai Abakar (47.00) won gold, silver, and bronze respectively.
Starting in lane 6, the 22-year-old had a slow start but put on a valiant attempt in the final stretch to finish fourth.
The race concluded dramatically when gold medalist Benjamin was accused of interfering with a competitor by knocking a hurdle into their path.
This initially promoted Nathaniel to the bronze medal position, but after a successful American appeal, the result was overturned, and Nathaniel was returned to fourth place.
Nathaniel, however, earned himself a national record, improving on his own record of 47.31 seconds he had set on August 16 in Poland.
He had ended Nigeria’s 38-year wait for a representative in the men’s 400m hurdles final after two consecutive semifinal heartbreaks at the World Championships.
Although he could not win a medal, his performance in the bright lights of Tokyo’s National Stadium etched his name in Nigerian athletics’ record books.
Nathaniel was Nigeria’s last competitor at the championship, and failure to win a medal means Nigeria ends the World Athletics Championship with only one medal, Tobi Amusan’s silver in the women’s 100m hurdles event.
A semi-finalist at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Nathaniel has enjoyed a good year in the 400m hurdles event, winning a bronze medal in the Diamond League Final on August 28.
