Blessing Okagbare last night completed a sprint double by also adding the 200m gold to the 100m she won on Monday at the ongoing 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. The African record holder in the short sprint ran 22.25seconds to pick the precious medal.

England duo of Jodie Williams and Bianca Williams ran their personal bests of 22.50 and 22.58 to settle for the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Nobody doubted Okagbare’s capacity to add the 200m gold, most especially after she opted out of the women’s long jump to have full concentration. Her 22.25 was just 500th of a second outside of the Commonwealth record of 22.20 held by Merlene Ottey since the Brisbane Games in 1982.

She showed flashes of what to expect in the final when she easily defeated Jodie Williams to win her semi final with a dazzling 22.43.
Like she did in the 100m, Okagbare powered out of the block in lane six and held on to her position into the curve of the home stretch. By the time she was 100m into the race, it was obvious that the Delta girl had won the race as she was comfortably in the lead of her specialty event.

Interestingly, another Delta girl, Ese Brume who see Okagbare as mentor, won the women’s long jump gold medal against all expectations.

Brume who qualified 5th  from her Group A into the final of the event with a low 6.29m, shocked all others including Bahamas’ Bianca Stuart who led with 6.67m and Chantel Malone (6.55) to jump 6.56m to claim the first position and the gold. England’s Jazmin Sawyers won the silver with 6.54m while Christable Nettey of Canada with 6.49m settled for the consolatory bronze medal.

Amaka Ogoegbuman who also ran in the final of the 400m hurdles could not make the podium as she was disqualified in the event won by Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica (54.10secs). Scotland’s Eilidh Child (55.02) and Janiere Russell of Jamaica (55.64)won the silver and bronze of the barrier 400m event.