No Show! Nigeria Misses Mixed 4x100m Relay In Budapest

Team Nigeria will not compete in the mixed 4x100m relay at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest after the country was left out of the final entries for the event.

Nigeria had earned its place through its performance at the World Athletics Relays in Gaborone, Botswana, where the mixed 4x100m team secured an automatic qualification spot for the Budapest championship.

However, despite securing qualification on the track, Nigeria's name was not confirmed among the final entries released on Thursday, ruling the team out of the race scheduled for Friday.

The development comes as a setback for Nigeria, which had been expected to feature in the newly introduced mixed relay event against some of the world's leading sprint nations.

At the World Athletics Relays in Botswana, Nigeria's mixed 4x100m quartet of Favour Ashe, Obi Chukwuka, Chidera Ezeakor and Maria Thompson Omokwe finished sixth in the final with a time of 42.03 seconds.

The top six teams from the event earned direct qualification for the Ultimate Championship, with Nigeria joining Jamaica, Canada, the United States, Germany and Spain among the qualifiers.

The mixed 4x100m is one of two mixed relay events on the programme in Budapest, alongside the mixed 4x400m. The event is part of World Athletics' new Ultimate Championship, which brings together many of the world's top athletes in a shortened, high-profile competition.

For Nigeria, however, the opportunity to showcase its sprint talent in the mixed relay will have to wait, with the country missing out despite having done enough on the track in Botswana to earn qualification.