There was mild drama after the final of the 400m Hurdles at the World Athletics Championships that favoured Team Nigeria’s Ezekiel Nathaniel and placed him on the podium and within seconds the dream was over.
Team Nigeria’s Nathaniel had finished 4th in a new National Record of 47.11s, but had his spirit lifted when America’s Rai Benjamin, who finished first in 46.52s was disqualified and the Nigerian was upgraded to 3rd.
Against this backdrop, Alson Dos Santos of Brazil who finished second in 46.84s was upgraded to first, while Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba initially finished 3rd in 47.06s was moved to 2nd.
The Nigerian NCAA Champion had hardly lifted his hands in celebration, when the United States of America Track and Field,USATF appealed the disqualification of Benjamin and it was accepted by the meet referee .
Consequently, the whole drama was brought to an end with Rai Benjamin reinstated as the 2025 world champion, Dos Santos of Brazil returned to second and Abderrahman Samba reverted to third.
Nigeria’s Nathaniel painful came close to the promised land but could not step into it as he lost the bronze medal he had looked forward to in crowning an excellent year before the mild drama, like a dream ended for him.
Benjamin was initially disqualified because during the final race,he hit the hurdle 10,which bumped and displaced Ezekiel Nathaniel’s final hurdle in Lane 6.
Despite not winning any shade of medal, Nathaniel can take solace in the fact that he ran a fantastic race all through to the final and breaking the national record of 47.31s, which he set about a month ago.
Interestingly, while Nathaniel became the second Nigeria since Henry Amike in 1987 to make the final of the 400m hurdles at the Worlds, he however could not better Amike’s 4th place finish in Rome as he also placed 4th.
This near miss of a podium finish adds to his pain in Oregun in 2022 and Budapest in 2023, where he crashed out in the semis.
The NCAA Champion can however take solace in his achievements this year winning the NCAA title, setting two national records and decently running 47 low which places him among the top quarter-mile hurdlers in the world today.
Tokyo World Athletics ends for Nigeria with Tobi Amusan as the only medalist for Team Nigeria, though still an improveemnt over Budapest Worlds,where Team Nigeria ended empty-handed.
