Nigeria just isn’t competing within the relay occasions on the ongoing World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
Whereas social media tendencies counsel that the Athletics Federation of Nigeria intentionally didn’t register the nation’s athletes for the relays so it might tackle officers, the details out there level in any other case.
Majorly, Nigeria just isn’t that includes within the relay occasions as a result of the nation’s groups didn’t meet the qualification necessities set by World Athletics, the worldwide governing physique of observe and subject.
Relay qualification just isn’t based mostly on invitation alone; it follows strict rating and efficiency standards inside an outlined window.
Whereas Nigeria has traditionally been sturdy within the relay occasions with Olympic medals throughout the 4×100 and 4×400, the nation, for the primary time in years, didn’t hit any of the qualifying marks for the World Championship.
Within the final qualification cycle, the nation’s relay squads didn’t put up sufficient quick occasions in recognised competitions to make the worldwide minimize.
This absence is a mirrored image of each administrative lapses and inconsistent workforce participation in main worldwide relay occasions that depend towards qualification.
How World Athletics relay qualification works
World Athletics allocates 16 slots for every relay occasion (males’s and girls’s 4x100m, males’s and girls’s 4x400m, and the blended 4x400m). These slots are crammed as follows:
1. Automated qualification by way of main championships
The highest 8 relay groups from the earlier World Athletics Relays (a biennial competitors) mechanically qualify for the World Championships and Olympic Video games.
2. World rankings and high performances
The remaining 8 slots are crammed based mostly on the quickest performances recorded in the course of the qualification window in World Athletics–sanctioned occasions.
To make sure equity, World Athletics makes use of the mixture of the 2 quickest occasions a rustic information within the qualifying interval. Each occasions should come from recognised worldwide meets with normal officiating and digital timing.
3. Qualification window
The window usually spans from the yr earlier than the championship up till just a few weeks earlier than the occasion. Nations should actively take part in accredited relay races throughout this era to be thought-about.
Why Nigeria fell brief
Resulting from administrative lapses which resulted in visa glitches, Nigeria’s relay groups didn’t take part on the World Athletics Relays, which served as the first pathway.
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The nation additionally didn’t clock aggressive sufficient occasions within the qualification window to interrupt into the world’s high 16.
In a number of instances, administrative and logistical issues prevented Nigeria from constantly fielding its finest runners at main relay meets.
Because of this, when World Athletics finalised the checklist of certified international locations, Nigeria was not included in any of the relay occasions.
