By Nsan Neji
LAGOS (CONVERSEER) – Miracle Oluebube Ezechukwu and Chigozie Rosemary Nwankwo have made progress since joining the N Youth Sports Academy and Nigerian Tulip International College on a fully funded scholarship programme with the then Federation Ministry of Youth and Sports and now National Sports Commission, and have gone on to win National Medals and represent Nigeria on the continental stage.
For the first time in the history of the African Junior Championships, one nation swept the women’s 100m podium — and it was Nigeria.
Leading the charge was NYSA’s Miracle Ezechukwu, who blazed to Gold in the U18 Girls’ final with a time of 11.88s (-0.4). Close behind was her teammate Chigozie Rosemary Nwankwo, who took Silver in 11.96s as the duo pulled away from the rest of the field to been crowned as the African queen.
This is testament of what N Youth Sports Academy produced as a educated champions since their discovery at the National Youth Games in 2021 and 2023 respectively in Ilorin, they were part of Team Anambra.
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In the sprint medley, From the moment Chigozie Rosemary Nwankwo took off in the 100m leg, she brought the baton to her training teammate Miracle Ezechukwu a healthy lead to finish off he Nigerian team cruised to the GOLD medal in a Championship Record of 2:08.16, breaking the previous record set by the Nigerian team in 2015. South Africa settled for Silver, while Botswana claimed Bronze. All the four athletes who competed in the women’s U18 Sprint Medley put in a great shift for the team.
New African U18 Champion in the 100m, Miracle Ezechukwu led the charge, clocking a new Personal Best of 23.87s to take GOLD in dominant fashion and right behind her was her teammate Chigozie Rosemary Nwankwo, who broke her PB for the second time in 24 hours, improving from 24.19s to an impressive 24.01s to grab the SILVER.
A true definition of stepping into their role model shoes, Mary Onyali and the duo hail from same Anambra State. The five times Olympian has been playing mother and mentorship role since from inception of the programme.
The coach behind the rising stars is Head Coach of N Youth Sports Academmy Abdulhakeem Idris, who is one of the youngest World Athletics certified and licensed coach in the world at the moment. He was also part of the team Nigeria sprint coaches at the third combined African U18/U20 Championships.
