By Victor Kanayo
World Athletics body has rated top Nigerian athlete and current Commonwealth Games long jump champion Ese Brume as the third best.
This is after the global athletics body accessed the key moments of 2022 in each area of the sport.
Germany’s Malaika Mihambo is rated best with 1,411pts, followed by Ivana Vuleta of Serbia with 1,392pts.
Brume, a three-time African Senior Champion comes third on the list with 1,382pts with Khaddi Sagnia of Sweden and USA Quanesha Burks in 4th and 5th with 1,345pts and 1,342pts each.
For season top list in the Women’s long jump, the Nigerian sensation is rated 5th with her 7.02meters jump recorded on July 24, 2022 at the World Championships final in Oregon, United States of America.
And ahead of 2023 World championships scheduled for 2023, the World Athletics has set up a high standard for participating athletes to meet before qualifying.
According to the organisers, these standards are the benchmarks for athletes to surmount if they are to qualify automatically and compete at the biennial championship.
The men’s 100m has been set at 10.00s flat, while the women’s category is 11.08s.
For the men’s 200m, it is 20.16s, while the women’s 200m is 22.60s.
In the 400m, athletes will have to run or surpass 45.00s and 51.00s for the men’s and women’s categories respectively. And the 400mH has been put at 48.70s and 54.90s.
World Record (WR) holder in the 100m Hurdles, Tobi Amusan should find it easy running 12.78s, though she has already qualified as the reigning World Champion.
In the field events, Ruth Usoro and other jumpers will have their eyes set on jumping 6.85m and 8.25m for the men. Ese Brume has already qualified through her Commonwealth Games Record winning jump of 7.00m.
Shot Put also has high standards of 21.40m and 18.80m, while Discus Throw is 67.00m and 64.20m.
The relays will have the top 12 countries from the World Relays, plus four other countries from the top list.
Other means of qualification are through being Continental Champions and top list ranking.