A relatively young Nigeria 4x100m mixed relay team has secured a spot at the World Athletics Championships taking place in Beijing, China, next year.

Missing experienced athletes like Blessing Ogundiran and Rosemary Chukwuma, the quartet of Favour Ashe, Jennifer Chukwuka-Obi, Chidera Ezeakor, and Maria Thompson improved on their African record of 41:44 seconds to clock 40.24 seconds to finish as one of the best-placed teams in the event at the World Championship in Gaborone, Botswana.

Team Nigeria finished 4th in heat 1 of the race, won by Canada in a time of 40.07 seconds, ahead of Germany, which came second in 40.15 seconds, while the Netherlands completed the top three in 40.20 seconds.

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Nigeria will compete in the final on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the 4×100m men, 4×400m men, 4×400m mixed relay, and 4×400m women will get a second chance to secure a slot for the world championships in the repechage, having failed to qualify from their heat today. For the women’s 4x100m, they were disqualified for dropping the baton during the race.