By Dare Esan In Beijing:
Blessing Okagbare will file out on the Mondo track at the Bird’s Nest stadium here in Beijing hoping to start her redemption race in style.
The double Commonwealth sprint champion failed to make history as the first Nigerian, man or woman, to win a blue ribband medal during Monday’s final but has promised to bounce back in the half lap race by claiming a consecutive podium place following her bronze medal finish in Moscow two years ago at the championships’ 14th edition.
The Nigerian has been drawn in lane four of the third heat with USA’s Jeneba Tarmoh, who has run faster (22.23 to 22.67 seconds) this season, her notable recognised threat.
Okagbare should pick one of the three automatic tickets on offer for Thursday’s semi-finals.
Her biggest threat to becoming Nigeria’s first world champion, the rapidly rising Dutch woman Dafne Schippers, has been drawn in heat six .
Schippers won a silver medal in Monday’s 100m final and with 22.09 personal season’s best is tipped to win the gold, especially with the absence of defending champion and three-time world 100m champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pyrce of Jamaica. Nigeria-born Briton, Margaret Adeoye, will run in heat five.
Her compatriot Dina Aher-Smith, the first British woman to break 11 seconds in the 100m, will run in heat 7.
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