The medals continue to troop in for Nigeria as the duo of Olayinka Olajide and Consider Ekanem raced to the silver and bronze medals in the men’s and women’s 200 metres events at the 13th African Games in Accra, Ghana, on Friday.
Olajide, the Nigerian national champion, who also won the bronze medal in the 100m event, clocked a personal best (PB) time of 23.18 (-2.6) seconds at the UGH Legon Stadium to finish behind Gambia’s Gina Bass, who completed the sweep of the sprint events after also winning the 100m.
Bass ran a time of 23.13s to clinch the gold medal, while Natacha Akamabi Ngoye came in third with a time of 23.42s.
BREAKING: Ghana’s Janet Mensah places 4th in the women’s 200m final, with a time of 23.45 seconds.
Gina Mariam (Gambia), Olajide Olayinka (Nigeria) and Akamai Natacha (Congo) took the gold, silver and bronze respectively. #Accra2023 #CitiSports???????????????? pic.twitter.com/TeU55hRYc8
— Citi Sports (@CitiSportsGHA) March 22, 2024
Olajide, in her first international outing for Nigeria, has now claimed three medals: one gold medal in the 4x100m, silver in the 200m, and bronze in the 100m.
Ghana gets a first 200m gold at the #AfricanGames since 1973 as ???????? Joseph-Paul Amoah wins in 20.70s, beating ???????? Consider Ekanem who finished third.#Accra2023 #AfricanGamespic.twitter.com/0cDAKhrYSE
— Gary Al-Smith (@garyalsmith) March 22, 2024
Meanwhile, in the men’s event, Ekanem finished third in a time of 20.80s (-2.8) to win the bronze medal, his first international medal for Nigeria.
Home favourite, Ghana’s Joseph Paul Amoah, won the gold medal with a time of 20.70s, while Cameroon’s Itoungue Claude Emmanuel, who ran 20.74s, got the silver medal.
Nigeria’s other athlete in the final, Olukunle Alaba Akintola, finished fifth with a time of 21.12s.
