Rosemary Nwankwo and Gift Bright won the girls’ and boys’ 100m finals at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, on Sunday, giving Nigeria its first two gold medals of the Games.
Nwankwo won in a wind-assisted 11.16 seconds, ahead of Arwa Ali of the United Arab Emirates in 11.41 and Dana Salem of Qatar in 11.48, Premium Times and Blueprint reported.
Bright, 15, is the first Nigerian to win the boys’ 100m at the Youth Olympics. Nwankwo is the country’s third champion in the girls’ race, after Josephine Omaka in Singapore in 2010 and Rosemary Chukwuma in Buenos Aires in 2018.
Bright won the boys’ final in a personal best of 10.28 seconds. China’s Zhang Hangyu took silver in 10.57 and Poland’s Szymon Dolega bronze in 10.61.
He had run the fastest time of the semi-finals, 10.34 seconds. Nwankwo also won her semi-final, in 11.53 seconds.
The golds came after Nigeria left swimming, table tennis and beach volleyball without a medal; the Netherlands ended the beach volleyball team’s run earlier in the week.
The two wins lifted Nigeria to joint 14th on the medal table with Ecuador, Premium Times reported. China led with 11 golds.
Nigeria has nine athletes in the athletics events in Dakar. The Games, which began on 31 October, end on 13 November.
Sources: Premium Times; Blueprint
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