By Gabriel Atumeyi
365Daily – Nigerian athlete, Ese Brume, on Sunday reached the final of the women’s long jump event at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Ivana Spanovic was first in Group B with a jump of 7.00m, while current world champion Malaika Mihambo, a German, was third with a 6.98m leap. British Virgin Islands’ Chantel Malone (6.82m) came third.
The three-time African senior champion who has long been seen as one of Nigeria’s medal hopefuls at the Tokyo Olympics having jumped a distance of 7.17m at the Chule Vista Festival in California in May to shatter Chioma Ajunwa’s 25-year long jump record of 7.12m.
The 25-year-old who won bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, was the only Nigerian athlete who reached the final of her event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, where she placed fifth with a leap of 6.81m.
In Group A, Americans Brittney Reese (6.86m) and Tara Davis (6.85m) placed first and second, with Swede Khaddi Sagnia (6.76m) and Great Britain’s Abigail Irozuru (6.75m) also qualifying in third and fourth places.