Brume secures fourth African title

Ese Brume, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics bronze medalist, has regained her African women’s long jump title and secured her fourth championship win by emerging victorious at the 2024 Africa Senior Athletics Championship currently underway in Cameroon, topping the rankings on Sunday.

In a stunning comeback, Ese Brume leapt from second place to first with a remarkable 6.73m jump in her final attempt, edging out Burkina Faso’s Marthe Koala who had been leading with a distance of 6.72m after five rounds.

Brume, 28, has a rich history in the championship, having previously won the title three times: in Marrakesh in 2014, Durban in 2016, and most notably, on home turf in Asaba in 2018.

Though her win was shy of the 6.86m 2024 Olympics qualification standard, Brume still has a ticket to Paris by ranking.

Nigeria’s Prestina Ochonogor was also in action and finished fourth with a jump of 6.28m.

In the women’s high jump final, Nigeria’s Temitope Adeshina also won silver.

The Nigerian Record holder cleared a height of 1.84m to finish second behind Ghana’s Rose Yeboah who won the gold medal with a best effort of 1.87m.

It’s the second time Yeboah has beaten Adeshina to the gold after edging her to the NCAA Championships recently.

Similarly, Samuel Ogazi also won bronze in the men’s 400m final in 45.47s.

He finished third in a race won by Cheikh Tidiana Tiouf of Senegal in 45.23s while Lee Eppie of Botswana was second in 45.39s.

New national champion, Dubem Amene was also in action and finished seventh in 46.27s.

Nigeria’s new women’s 400m champion, Esther Joseph also won bronze in a time of 51.94s.

South Africa’s Miranda Coetzee ran a gutsy race, taking the reins of the race early on to strike gold in 51.16s ahead of Qincy Malekani of Zambia who got the silver in 51.56s.

Punch