JUST IN: Okagbare edges closer to Olympics medal

– Blessing Okagbare wins heat 5 in the women 200m race

– She clocked 22.71s ahead of Great Britain’s Asher-Smith who ran 22.77s

– Both women qualify for the semi-finals

Nigeria’s sprint queen Blessing Okagbare has qualified to the semi-final of the women’s 200m event at the Rio Olympics.

The 27-year-old won Heat 5 easily, clocking 22.71s ahead of Great Britain’s Asher-Smith who ran 22.77s.

Both women automatically qualified for the semi-finals.

Blessing Okagbare

However, Okagbare still has a lot of work to do if she is to win any medal in this competition.

This is because her 22.71s was one of the lowest qualifying time by a winner in all heats.

Ivory coast sprinter Marie-Josee Ta Lou qualified with the fastest time after running a personal best to win Heat 4 in 22.32s, ahead of new Olympics 100m champion Elaine Thompson who ran 22.63s.

NAIJ.com recalls that crashed out in Rio Olympics 100m semi-final, as she placed 3rd in her heat with a time of 11.09s.

Her time was not good enough to get her into the finals as one of the fastest losers.

Okagbare who won bronze in long at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, ran 11.01s to come last the women’s 100m final of London 2012. She didn’t compete in the 200m race after picking up an injury.