Okagbare returns to long jump, chases $10,000 in Diamond League

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Okagbare returns to long jump, chases $10,000 in Diamond League

After failing in both the 100m and 200m events at the just concluded Rio Olympic Games, Commonwealth and Africa’s queen of the track, Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor is expected to return to the long jump event today at the Lausanne Athletissima meeting, the first IAAF Diamond League after the Olympics.

For long, Okagbare had abandoned the long jump event to focus on the sprint, where she failed to go beyond the semi-finals in Rio. She was part of Nigeria’s 4x100m relay, but with no meaning impact as they finished last in the final.

In today’s IAAF Diamond league in Lausanne Athletissima, the Sapele-born Okagbare, with a record of 7.00m in the jump, has an up-hill task, as she squares up against reigning World and Olympic champion, Bartoletta Tianna of the USA, who has a personal best of 7.17.

Other contenders are Proctor Shara of Great Britain (7.07), Spanovi? Ivana of Serbia (7.08), Klishina Darya of Russia (7.05) as well as Ugen Lorraine of Great Britain (6.92). The only athlete with a lower record among the seven contestants is Jones Akela of Bahrain (6.75).