World and Olympics long jump bronze medallist Ese Brume tops the list of athletes named by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) to fly the nation’s flag at the World Athletics Indoor Championships which runs from 18-20 March, in Belgrade, Serbia.
Others are the reigning NCAA indoor champion in the triple jump, Ruth Usoro and the 4x400m quartet of Sikiru Adeyemi, Ifeanyi Ojeli, Nathaniel Samson and Timothy Emeoghene.
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Brume, competing in her first World Indoor Championships, is aspiring to become the second Nigerian woman after Glory Alozie to win medals at both the indoor and outdoor World Athletics championships.
Brume has not competed indoors since February 2020 but the 25-year-old who set a new 7.17m African outdoor mark last May will be Nigeria’s biggest hope for an indoor medal this year.
Like Brume, Usoro will also be competing in her first World Indoor Championships, a year after conquering the NCAA indoors and outdoor.
Unlike Brume, the 24-year-old has competed indoors this year and will be in action this weekend at the NCAA Championships in Birmingham, Alabama where she will be hoping to add the long jump title to the triple jump she won last year.
Usoro holds a personal season’s best of 6.59m in the long jump and 13.66m in the triple jump.
Nigeria has won a total of 11 medals made up of two gold (Sunday Bada, 400m in 1997 and Olusoji Fasuba, 60m in 2008), six silver and three bronze medals.
