Nigeria’s reigning 100/200m record holder Blessing Okagbare has shifted her focus to the Gateshead Diamond League meeting after finishing seventh (22.98) in the 200m race at the Monaco leg of the money-spinning one day meeting on Friday.
The Olympic, World and Commonwealth medallist was tipped to ruffle some feathers and complete a hat-trick of wins in Monaco but she failed to find her rhythm at a venue where she made history as the second African woman to hit the 7 metres mark in the long jump.
Bahamas’ Shaunae Miller-Uibo ran 22.23 seconds to win the race ahead of Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou who improved her personal season’s best to 22.25 seconds to supplant Nigeria’s Favour Ofili as the fastest African in the event so far this year. Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pyrce ran 22.48 seconds to place third.
The 2014 Commonwealth Games double sprint champion had won both the 100m and long jump events at the venue in 2012 and 2013 respectively and was aiming to win her first 200m race at the Stade Louis 11 stadium but her competitors were not in the mood to play second fiddle.
Okagbare will now hope to lay down a marker at the Gateheads meeting before storming Tokyo with renewed confidence as she bids to make her first global sprint final since 2015 when she ran in the final of the 100m at the World Athletics Championship in Beijing.
The 33 year old Nigerian who holds a personal and African record time of 22.04 seconds and a personal season’s best of 22.59 seconds will be competing against some of the best sprinters in the world led by home girl and reigning world champion in the event, Dina Asher-Smith who holds a personal season’s best of 22.06 seconds and 2016 double Olympic sprint champion, Elaine Thompson-Herah who stormed to an impressive 10.71 seconds in the blue ribband race last week at the Istvan Gyulai memmorial meeting in Hungary.
Also confirmed for the race is USA’s Tamara Clark who finished sixth in Monaco in 22.95 despite coming with a 21.98 seconds personal season as well as another Jamaican, Natasha Morrison who ran a personal best of 22.74 seconds last month at the Jamaican Olympic trials in Kingston.