World Athletics has released the final entry list for the upcoming World Athletics Indoor Championships, but top Nigerian athletes, Tobi Amusan, Favour Ofili, and Ese Brume are notably absent from Team Nigeria.
The prestigious event is set to take place in Nanjing, China, from March 21 to 23.
In the absence of these star athletes, shot put specialist, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi and 400m runner, Chidi Okezie will lead Nigeria’s nine-member squad.
Other Nigerian athletes listed for the championship include NCAA women’s indoor high jump champion, Temitope Adeshina, African indoor record holder in the men’s 400m, Ezekiel Nathaniel, and Paris Olympic finalist, Prestina Ochonogor. The team is completed by Edidiong Udo, James Onwuka, Ifeanyi Ojeli, and Joshua Caleb.
Nigeria’s contingent consists of seven male and two female athletes, competing primarily in high jump, long jump, 400m, shot put, and the men’s 4x400m relay.
According to World Athletics, the championship will feature 576 athletes from 127 countries, including 11 individual defending champions and 20 Paris 2024 Olympic medallists. The participants include 264 women and 312 men.
Defending champions from the last edition in Glasgow set to compete in Nanjing include world record holders, Mondo Duplantis (pole vault), Devynne Charlton (60m hurdles), and Grant Holloway (60m hurdles), as well as Molly Caudery (pole vault), Tsige Duguma (800m), Hamish Kerr (high jump), Thea Lafond (triple jump), Sarah Mitton (shot put), Nicola Olyslagers (high jump), Miltiadis Tentoglou (long jump), and Hugues Fabrice Zango (triple jump).
Several of these champions-Duplantis, Holloway, Kerr, Lafond, and Tentoglou went on to win Olympic gold in Paris last year. They will be joined by fellow Olympic champions Yaroslava Mahuchikh (high jump) and Jakob Ingebrigtsen (1500m and 3000m), who are also world record holders.
Among the notable home athletes in action will be China’s Olympic and two-time world shot put champion, Gong Lijiao and two-time global triple jump medallist, Zhu Yaming.