Reigning Nigeria Shot Put record holder, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi threw 20.44m to place fifth at the 58th Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava, Czech Republic on Thursday.
The Nigerian fouled his first three attempts before registering 20.21m in his fourth throw. The mark catapaulted him from eighth to fifth position but his attempt to jump to third position and overhaul the duo of home-boy, Stanek Tomas (3rd) and Poland’s Bukowiecki Konrad (4th) failed to hit the imagined mark as he could only throw 19.73m on his fifth attempt.
The 26 year old improved his mark to 20.44m in his final throw, but it was not enough to lift him beyond fifth.
This was Enekwechi’s fourth consecutive attempt to hit the 21m mark after heaving a massive 21.77m on April 28 at the Grande Prêmio Brasil Caixa de Atletismo, Bragança Paulista in Brazil.
Also Read: AFCON 2019: Group-By-Group Analysis; Cameroon Defend Title
His first attempt to make it back-to-back 21m throw and make history as the first Nigerian to hit the 21m mark twice in an outdoor season was at the Golden Gala – Pietro Mennea IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome on June 6 but he failed to hit beyond 20.54m.
Enekwechi dropped to 20.50m at the Memorial Jos Verstockt in Lier,Belgium two days later but moved closest at the Irena Szewińska Memorial in Bydgoszcz,Poland where he was just two centimetres short (20.98m).
The Commonwealth Games silver medallist had become the second Nigerian man after Stephen Mozia to hit 21m mark and above indoors and out after his 21.09m personal best indoor throw at the Notre Dame in Indianapolis,USA last February.
Mozia made Nigerian history in 2016 when he became the first Nigerian to throw 21m and above indoors and out.He began with a 20.11m heave in January before setting a then Nigeria record of 21.76m in July at the Ústí nad Labem meeting in Czech Republic.
By Dare Esan
