Samuel Ogazi, an 18-year-old Nigerian athlete on Tuesday set a new Personal Best Time of 44.41s to secure a spot in the final of the men’s 400m event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Ogazi’s qualification is a milestone as it marks the first time a Nigerian will be making it to the event final since 1988 when the legendary Innocent Egbunike made it to the final at the Seoul Olympics; eventually finishing in the fifth position.
Remarkable Olympics
In Tuesday’s semi final race, Ogazi finished third; missing out on an automatic qualification spot but his time was fast enough to earn him a place among the final eight.
In what has been a remarkable debut at the Olympic Games, Ogazi had qualified for the 400m semi-finals with a personal best time of 44.50s on Sunday.
This achievement was also historic as it was the first time a Nigerian male athlete got to the semi-finals of the event since 2008.
Ogazi has been praised for his strong finishing ability, and as predicted, he has improved on his time in the semi-finals.
READ ALSO: Paris 2024: Team Nigeria banks on Ofili, Oborududu for first medals
While a medal may appear as a tall order, Ogazi has been improving with every race and may just surprise the book makers to make it to the podium.
The youngster has his work cut out as he will be up against athletes who ran inside 44 seconds in the semifinals; including Kirani James, Zambia’s Muzala and Great Britain’s Mathew Hudson-Smith.
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