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Nigeria’s long jump trio Ese Brume, Prestina Ochonogor, and Ruth Usoro will all compete for places on the podium in the final of the women’s long jump event of the Paris 2024 Olympics on Thursday, The PUNCH reports.
This makes them the first Nigerian trio to make the final of an individual event at the Olympics. The last time Nigeria had more than one athlete in an athletics Olympic final was in Atlanta in 1996 when Falilat Ogunkoya and Fatimat Yusuf both made the women’s 400m final.
The three jumpers made the final as part of the top 12 athletes in the event on Tuesday, with Brume and Usoro qualifying from the qualifying Group A, while Ochonogor qualified from Group B.
Brume, a bronze medallist in the event at Tokyo 2020, powered to a mark of 6.76m in her third attempt to finish second in her group behind USA’s Tara Davis-Woodhall. She started the rounds by landing some 6.44m and 6.40m in her first two attempts, which were way below the qualifying mark of 6.75m.
Usoro, who won gold in the triple jump at the African Games, was also on song. She started with a huge foul in the region of 7m before delivering 6.68m to finish third in the group behind Brume.
African Games bronze medallist Ochonogor finished third in her group with a mark of 6.65m in her second attempt.
Overall, Brume finished fourth in the qualifying round, followed by Usoro in fifth, while the 18-year-old Ochonogor was seventh.
Renowned as Nigeria’s most consistent athlete, Brume will lead Usoro and Ochonogor into the final on Thursday with the hope of delivering another medal for Team Nigeria.
Despite not having the best of seasons in the run-up to the Games, Brume is regarded as one of Nigeria’s medal prospects in Paris.
The 28-year-old is a four-time African champion and won bronze in the event during the last Olympic Games with a jump of 6.97 m in the final.
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