Jessica Oji claimed gold in the women’s shot put event of the World Athletics U20 Championships in Oregon, US.
The 19-year-old athlete threw 18.08 meters to win the event’s final at Hayward Field in the early hours of Friday.
Oji’s junior gold medal came a few days after she won silver for Nigeria at the 2026 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Glasgow, Scotland.
The CWG was her debut international competition for Nigeria after she switched allegiance from the US in February.
Her victory in Oregon is also Nigeria’s first-ever gold medal in the field events at the U20 World Championships.
Oji had qualified for the final with just a single throw in the qualification round. Her throw landed around 17.56m to send her into the final as the favourite.
She failed to disappoint in the final and was the only athlete in the competition to throw beyond the 18-metre mark. She opened with 18.05m, improved to a winning mark of 18.08m, followed with 17.95m, and two fouls followed. Her final attempt was another impressive throw of 18.07m.
Belsy Jenniffer Quiñonez of Ecuador took silver with a 17.90m throw, while Germany’s Emily Scherf completed the podium with bronze.
