Chinecherem Nnamdi made history Friday as the first Nigerian, man or woman to win a javelin medal at a global competiton for Nigeria after throwing 74.48m to win the bronze medal at the ongoing World Athletics U-20 championships in Nairobi.
The 19 year old was tipped to challenge for the gold after throwing a massive new personal best of 78.02m to top the qualifiers on Wednesday but Finland’s Janne Laspa threw 76.46m to win the gold ahead of the pre-championships favourite, Ukraine’s Artur Felfner whose 76.32m effort was only good for the silver medal.
Felfner opened the battle for gold with a 76.31m throw in the first round with Nnamdi managing 70.57m to place second after the first round of throws.
Laspa moved into second place after throwing 73.25m in the second round with the Nigerian improving to 72.63m.
The Finnish landed the gold winning throw in the third round with his 76.46m throw while both Felfner and Nnamdi failed to respond appropriately as the Ukrainian only added a centimetre to his first round throw.
Nnamdi has now become the second Nigerian to win a field event medal in the history of the championships after Esther Aghatise who won a bronze medal in the long jump event in Kinsgton, Jamaica in 2002.
