Olopade Pledges ₦6m for Athletic Heat Anniversary Meet

Director-General of the National Sports Commission, Bukola Olopade, has pledged ₦6m to support the 10th anniversary edition of the Athletic Heat Meet scheduled for Saturday at the Yaba College of Technology Sports Complex, Lagos.

Olopade earmarked ₦4m as prize money for winners in the throwing events, with ₦500,000 allocated to each of the eight competitions. He also committed ₦2m towards logistics for the anniversary meet.

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The Chief Executive Officer of Athletic Heat, Ese Oguma, expressed appreciation to the NSC boss for his support and commitment to sports development.

Oguma said backing from sports administrators and other stakeholders was essential to improving competition standards, rewarding athletes and creating opportunities for emerging talents to showcase their abilities.

More than 850 athletes are expected to participate, with Nigerian internationals Miracle Ezechukwu, Samson Nathaniel and Adams Samuel Kure among the leading attractions.

The competition will bring together established stars, emerging talents and grassroots competitors as Athletic Heat celebrates a decade of promoting athletics in Nigeria.

Ezechukwu, one of Nigeria’s brightest sprint prospects, is expected to compete in the women’s 100m following an impressive rise on the national and international athletics scene.

The teenage sprinter won three gold medals at the African U-18 and U-20 Championships in Abeokuta in 2025 and has recorded 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 before helping Nigeria win the 4x100m relay in a championship-record time of 42.94 seconds.

Nathaniel, an experienced quarter-miler, has represented Nigeria at the Olympic Games and World Athletics Championships. He was also part of the Nigerian team that won 4x400m relay gold at the African Games in Accra.

The athlete clocked 45.89 seconds in the 400m at the Addis Ababa Athletics Meet this year, with a personal best of 45.23 seconds. He is expected to compete in the men’s 400m.

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

Meanwhile, organisers have completed the seeding of events and allocation of bib numbers ahead of the competition, advising athletes to consult the Roster Athletics app for their schedules, heats, flights and assigned numbers.

The senior men’s 100m has attracted 320 entries, with the top 32 athletes by ranking advancing to four finals. In the senior women’s 100m, the top 24 competitors will qualify for the finals.

Hurdles finals will be restricted to six athletes each because of equipment availability, while the long jump competition will feature two flights.

Under-age athletes competing in the throwing events will have their performances recorded but will not be eligible for prizes.