Olopade pledges N6m for Athletic Heat 10th anniversary meet

The Director-General of the National Sports Commission, Bukola Olopade, has pledged N6m to the 10th anniversary edition of the Athletic Heat Meet.

The competition holds on Saturday (today) at the Yaba College of Technology Sports Complex in Lagos.

Olopade earmarked N4m for winners in the throwing events, with N500,000 going to the winner of each of the eight events. He also committed ₦2m to the logistics of the meet.

The Chief Executive Officer of Athletic Heat, Ese Oguma, thanked the NSC boss for the support and his commitment to sports development. She said backing from administrators and other stakeholders was crucial to raising competition standards, rewarding athletes and giving young talents opportunities to show their potential.

More than 850 athletes are expected, with Nigerian internationals Miracle Ezechukwu, Samson Nathaniel and Adams Samuel Kure among the main attractions. The meet will bring together established stars, emerging talents and grassroots competitors as Athletic Heat marks a decade of promoting athletics in Nigeria.

Ezechukwu, a teenage sprinter, is expected to run in the women’s 100m. She won three gold medals at the African U-18 and U-20 Championships in Abeokuta in 2025, and has set personal bests of 11.15 seconds in the 100m and 22.77 seconds in the 200m this year.

At the African Senior Athletics Championships in Accra, Ghana, she finished fourth in the women’s 100m final and helped Nigeria win the 4x100m relay in a championship-record 42.94 seconds.

Nathaniel, a quarter-miler, has represented Nigeria at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships. He was part of the team that won 4x400m relay gold at the African Games in Accra. This year, he clocked 45.89 seconds in the 400m at the Addis Ababa Athletics Meet. His personal best is 45.23 seconds, and he is expected to run the men’s 400m.

Kure will headline the field events in the javelin. He won bronze at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in November 2025 with a throw of 76.01m, behind Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem and Muhammad Yasir.

The organisers have completed the seeding of events and allocation of bib numbers, and athletes have been advised to check the Roster Athletics app for their schedules, heats and flights.

The senior men’s 100m attracted 320 entries, with the top 32 by ranking advancing to four finals. The top 24 athletes will qualify for the finals in the senior women’s 100m. Hurdles finals will be limited to six athletes each because of equipment availability, while the long jump will have two flights. Under-age athletes in the throwing events will have their results recorded but will not be eligible for prizes.