African Championships: Ta Lou-Smith, Ofili, and Bass-Bittaye cruise into 100m semifinals with fastest times

African Championships: Ta Lou-Smith, Ofili, and Bass-Bittaye cruise into 100m semifinals with fastest times

Funmilayo Fameso 19:36 - 21.06.2024

Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith, Favour Ofili, and Gina Bass-Bittaye cruised to the 100m semifinals at the African Championships in Cameroon.

Despite the poor organisation at the African Championships in Douala, Cameroon, the continent's top female sprinters Marie Josee Ta Lou-Smith, Favour Ofili, and Gina Bass-Bittaye showed up with top performances in their 100m heats to make the semifinals.

Top on the list with the fastest qualifying time is Africa's fastest woman in history Ta Lou-Smith, who overcame the setback of poor treatment by the organisers with a convenient 11.14s in her heat, finishing ahead of Nigeria's Rosemary Chukwuma.

Ofili followed suit with the second-fastest time of 11.22s in her heat to cruise into the semifinals. The talented speedster will be gunning to make the final and become Nigeria's first medal winner in the event since Blessing Okagbare achieved the feat 10 years ago.

Finally, Gambia's track legend Bass-Bittaye cruised to the finish line in a respectable 11.44s to qualify for the semifinals.

The African Games champion is a top favourite for the title and will aim to add another gold medal to her collections against Ta Lou-Smith and Ofili when she makes the final.

Gina Bass is the reigning African Games champion

The semifinals and finals are scheduled for Day 2, which hopefully there would be better organisation and environmental conditions for the athletes to perform to their best.

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