Athletics
SEMENYA RUNS AT DIAMOND LEAGUE THIS SUNDAY
BY MIKE ROWBOTTOM
Caster Semenya is set for a return to the International Association of Athletics Federations Diamond League circuit in Stanford, California today after a Swiss court reportedly extended the suspension of their ruling concerning athletes with differences in sexual development.
Earlier this month, the Swiss Federal Tribunal put on hold the IAAF’s ruling that obliges athletes with differences in sexual development (DSD) to take drugs to medically reduce their naturally-occurring testosterone if they want to compete at events ranging from 400 metres to a mile.
The “superprovisional order” was considered a major boost for South Africa’s world and Olympic 800m champion in her challenge against a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision in the IAAF’s favour.
South Africa’s ewn.co.za website cites a claim by Semenya’s lawyers that, yesterday, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court extended its deadline for submissions relating to the IAAF’s DSD regulations until July 1.
The court’s deadline extension means the IAAF’s regulations remain suspended until the Swiss court receives submissions from CAS and arrives at a decision.
The IAAF’s rules, which came into force on May 8, mean DSD athletes with naturally high levels of testosterone who wish to participate in events between 400m and a mile must medically limit that level to under 5 nmol/L, double the normal female range of below 2 nmol/L.
They were described as “discriminatory” by the CAS when it ruled in favour of the IAAF and against Semenya but it also said the policy was “necessary, reasonable and proportionate” to protect the fairness of women’s sport.
Semenya has not raced in the Diamond League since winning the opening meeting of the season in Doha in a meeting record and 2019 world-leading time of 1min 54.98sec.
After the IAAF’s initial attempt to lift the superprovisional order was rebuffed earlier this month, Semenya was officially – but belatedly – invited to take part in the last IAAF Diamond League meeting that took place in Rabat, Morocco on June 16.
However, she had already flown back home from racing in Europe when the invite arrived and had insufficient time to change her plans.
The seventh of this year’s IAAF Diamond League meetings takes place, temporarily, at a new venue – Stanford’s Cobb Track and Angell Field in Palo Alto, California – and will showcase a new talent in the shape of 19-year-old home sprinter Sha-Carri Richardson.
The change of location is due to the fact that the traditional home of the Prefontaine Classic meeting – Hayward Field, in Oregon, is being substantially rebuilt ahead of hosting the IAAF World Championships in 2021.
Fresh from setting world 100m and 200m under-20 records of 10.75sec and 22.17sec at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships, Richardson will make her professional debut in Stanford against a women’s 100m field that includes the resurgent 2008 and 2012 Olympic champion at that event, 32-year-old Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who clocked 10.73 at the recent Jamaican Championships.
Home world champion Tori Bowie, national champion Aleia Hobbs and double world silver medallist Marie-Josée Ta Lou are also in the line-up.
The women’s 200m is also stacked with talent, including Jamaica’s Rio 2016 100m and 200m champion Elaine Thompson, who last week won the Jamaican 100m and 200m titles in 10.73 and 22.00.
She will face Britain’s European 100 and 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith, who convincingly beat her in Stockholm, two-times world champion Dafne Schippers and world 400m number one Salwa Eid Naser.
Another rising US sprint star, Michael Norman, has already run 43.45sec for the 400m this season, but he will not take lightly the challenge of compatriot Fred Kerley, the Diamond League champion, who in Shanghai last month and recently ran 44.49 in Kingston.
Meanwhile, the Beijing 2008 champion, LaShawn Merritt, will be contesting his first 400m race since the 2017 World Championships.
In the men’s 100m, home sprinter Christian Coleman, who ran 9.86sec in Shanghai and improved it with a 2019 world-leading 9.85 in Oslo, headlines the field.
The world indoor champion will take on world champion Justin Gatlin, Mike Rodgers, European champion Zharnel Hughes and Italian record-holder Filippo Tortu.
Ethiopia’s world and Olympic 10,000m champion Almaz Ayana will be making her first competitive appearance on the track since 2017 in a women’s 3,000m that also includes her compatriot, world 1,500m record-holder Genzebe Dibaba, and Kenya’s world 5,000m and cross-country champion Helen Obiri.
Others to keep an eye on will be European 5,000m champion Sifan Hassan, who ran 3:55.93 to finish runner-up to Dibaba over 1,500m at the last Diamond League meeting in Rabat, and Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen.
The women’s 1,500m features world and Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon, returning from maternity leave, and Britain’s European champion Laura Muir.
Kenya’s world 1,500m silver medallist Tim Cheruyot will defend his Bowerman Mile title against a field that includes training partner and world champion Elijah Manangoi, and Ethiopia’s world indoor mile record-holder Yomif Kejelcha.
Lingering bursitis has prevented world number one Abderrahman Samba from competing in the 400m hurdles, meaning USA’s Rai Benjamin will start as the clear favourite.
Benjamin, the third-fastest man in history in this event, won in Rome earlier this month in a season’s best of 47.58.
He will face world number three and two-times Diamond trophy winner Kyron McMaster, who ran 49.12 in Oslo, world silver medallist Yasmani Copello and Olympic champion Kerron Clement.
In the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, Kenya’s world record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech will try to fend off the challenge from home world champion Emma Coburn and North American record-holder Courtney Frerichs.
– insidethegames
BY DANLADI BAKO
Sports and indeed global athletics have been the cynosure of quite a huge community of track and field afficionados in the last nine days at the Tokyo World Athletics finals.
The global athletics fraternity congregates annually to celebrate new world beaters and champions.
Athletes spend a large amount of time, energy and resources to train, attracting the best coaches and utilizing some of the high impact facilities in developing qualifying times for their individual events.
So many nations facilitate the upscaling and upgrading of their athletes’ mentality, physique and performance standing through investments in the training and welfare of their high-profile athletes by providing grants, scholarships and appreciable reward systems.
These have been in short supply in Nigeria and indeed within the developing world where the priorities of most governments are education, health, poverty and so many other development challenges.
However, the benefits of investing in sports are unquantifiable especially on the world global diplomatic stage, unassailable visibility and an incredible reputation unachievable in so many other areas of human existence. In the eighties and 90s the Americans literally ruled the sprints with female 100 meters legend Florence Griffiths – Joyner and 400 meters world champion Michael Johnson.
Just like America used the movies to show Americans as the world best, sportsmen like basketball’s Michael Jordan and boxing’s Muhammad Ali put America on the pinnacle of human capacity for endurance, determination, strategic planning and near perfect execution.
America might have the size and population above 200 million so it’s success can be expected, however Jamaica an island of 150 miles by 50 miles has gone beyond exporting Reggae’s global icons like Bob Marley and Alton Ellis to producing 100 meters legends Usain Bolt, Sherry Ann Fraser-Price and Marlene Ottey thereby winning international recognition and inevitable public reckoning far beyond most African countries.
Now a land locked southern African sub-continent country Botswana with less than the population of Lagos State just on Sunday won the 4 x 400 men’s relay gold at the Tokyo 2025 games even after picking a few other medals through individual athletes Tebogo et al.
The Tokyo games have come and gone with Tobi Amusan putting Nigeria on the medals table with her 100 meters Silver medal. Ajayi’s efforts in the 100 meters men’s final was also commendable.
For me the highest point was the super- human diminutive Kenyan Faith Kipyegon in the 1500 metres clinching gold and 5000 metres silver.
Another great spectacle was the exploits of American idol Noah Lyle who anchored the last leg of the 4 x100 metres gold winning quartet.
Lyle won the 200 metres gold as well becoming one of the audaciuos and eye-catching supreme athletes of Tokyo 2025. Mention must be made of Sweden’s Armand Mondo who broke the pole vault world record thrice in two days.
So when and how would Nigeria get to these towering heights of conquering the world?
The fact is that we once had Olympic and World Athletics finalists like Innocent Egbunike (400m) , Chidi Imo (100 and 200m), Yusuf Alli (Long jump) and Falilat Ogunkoya (400m) although it was the American University collegiate structure that groomed them to become world beaters with little or no input from the home government.
Once in a long while a training grant of $50,000 gets handed to them in preparation for Olympic games to pay their coaches and for utilizing training facilities abroad. Even Ezekiel Nathaniel and Oyinkansola Ajayi are still beneficiaries of the American University collegiate structure.
The aforementioned names who also schooled and trained in the United States are still very much around especially Yusuf Alli, Falilat and Mary Onyali.
The authorities need to device the appropriate strategies to achieve podium standings in the nearest immediate future.
All the products of the National Youth Games and the School Sports Federation games should be drafted into a growth enhancement program, hire some of the best Athletics coaches from around the world and ensure the construction and maintenance of high-performance pitches and gymnasia.
The Sports Federations must be populated with patriotic and passionate sports men who are brimming with enthusiasm, desire and creativity.
President Tinubu did not only resuscitate the National Sports Commission, he gave an unprecedented 12 billion naira to the Sports Ministry for AFCON and other tournaments earlier this year so we have a listening President who can restore our lost glory in sports and athletics in particular. Nigeria must reclaim its podium standing capability as soon as possible.
Danladi Bako, OON was Senior Special Assistant to former Minister of Youth and Sports as well as one-time Chairman Sokoto State Football Association.
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By KUNLE SOLAJA.
Nigeria’s silver medal finish at the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championships once again highlighted the country’s roller-coaster fortunes on the global stage.
While the podium placement ensured Nigeria did not return empty-handed, the overall medal count has remained stagnant in recent years compared to other rising athletics nations.
At the Doha 2019 Championships, Team Nigeria endured a barren outing, failing to register a single medal. Three years later in Oregon 2022, Ese Brume broke the drought with a stunning gold in the women’s long jump — Nigeria’s first-ever world title in the event.
The momentum continued into Budapest 2023, where world record holder Tobi Amusan claimed silver in the women’s 100m hurdles, cementing Nigeria’s presence among the elite hurdlers. In Tokyo this year, the nation repeated the feat in the same event, albeit again settling for silver.
A comparative glance at the last four editions shows a troubling trend: Nigeria has not improved its medal tally, with just one medal each in 2022, 2023, and 2025.
This raises urgent questions about depth, consistency, and investment in talent development beyond the few star performers.
Comparative Medal Table (2019–2025)
- Doha 2019 – 0 medals (No standout performance)
- Oregon 2022 – 1 Gold (Ese Brume, Women’s Long Jump)
- Budapest 2023 – 1 Silver (Tobi Amusan, 100m Hurdles)
- Tokyo 2025 – 1 Silver (100m Hurdles)
The pattern underscores Nigeria’s reliance on individual brilliance rather than systemic excellence. Athletics analysts argue that unless the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) strengthens grassroots programs, invests in coaching and sports science, and improves athlete welfare, the country risks stagnating while competitors from Africa and beyond surge ahead.
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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Nigeria wrapped up its campaign at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo with a single silver medal, finishing joint 25th on the overall medals table with eight others on the medals tables as the curtain was drawing on the championship.
The position may even deepen at the end of the day.
Star hurdler Tobi Amusan delivered the country’s only podium finish, placing second in the women’s 100m hurdles.
Despite the modest medal haul, several Nigerian athletes impressed with near-misses and record-breaking efforts.
Ezekiel Nathaniel narrowly missed out on a medal in the men’s 400m hurdles, finishing fourthin a national record time. Kanyinsola Ajayi also reached the men’s 100m final, settling for sixth, while shot put specialist Chukwuebuka Enekwechi placed fifthin his event.
Nigeria fielded 15 athletes – eight men and seven women – in Tokyo. While the performances reflected resilience, the lack of medals beyond Amusan’s silver highlighted gaps in preparation and depth.
Analysts point to the absence of Nigeria’s traditionally strong relay teams, logistical challenges, and inadequate athlete support as major setbacks.
Sports observers insist that the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) must chart a new path if the country is to climb the global athletics ladder.
Key recommendations include better logistics and athlete welfare, renewed focus on relay programmes, grassroots talent identification, and consistent funding.
Despite the below-par medal count, the performances in Tokyo suggest Nigeria still possesses world-class potential. With reforms and stronger administration, the AFN has an opportunity to turn near-misses into podium finishes at future championships.
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