A miracle in the heats. A nightmare in the final. That’s how things have shaped up for Nigeria’s women’s team in the 4×100 m race at the World U20 Championships. They had gold medals within their reach, but one split-second mistake brought everything crashing down.

Lucy Chiamaka Nwankwo was ruled to have false-started before the gun, immediately disqualifying the entire Nigerian team. Nwankwo, Chigozie Rosemary Nwankwo, Success Oyibu and Miracle Ezechukwu could only watch as Jamaica took gold in 42.89 seconds, followed by Switzerland in 43.36 and Belgium in 43.91.

The disappointment was even harder to take because Miracle Ezechukwu had produced one of the moments of the championships in the heats. Anchoring from fifth, she stormed through the field with a sensational 9.81-second split, edging past the USA and dragging Nigeria into the final. But when the moment arrived, Nigeria never got the chance to fight for the medals.

She was seen hunched over in distress, while Nwankwo appeared overwhelmed, covering her face as the reality of the disqualification sank in.

“I know rules are rules, but this is so hard to watch. They are absolutely distraught,” one commentator said. Bruce McAvaney echoed the sentiment, pointing out how enormous the impact of one mistake was on the entire team. The officials, he noted, had little choice but to enforce the rule.

Nigerian sports journalist Christopher Maduewesi explained, “Last word on the Lucy Nwankwo FS – in almost 4yrs of covering that girl, she had never false-started before today. Every athlete knows that changing spikes few minutes before a race, is a recipe for disaster.”

Nwankwo had reportedly spent much of the hour before the race uncertain about whether she would compete after Nigeria discovered that her spikes faced the same specification issue that had led to Perfect Faye’s earlier disqualification. That meant valuable warm-up time was lost, while nerves inevitably built.

Having said that, Maduewesi also encouraged the youngster, saying, “Even the best athletes in history are not immune from false starts.” But looking at how things have gone for Team Nigeria, particularly at the 4×100 events, it is really a bit hard to believe.

The mixed 4x100m relay quartet of Tejiri Godwin, Chigozie Rosemary Nwankwo, Perfect Faye and Ezechukwu initially finished fourth in 41.77 seconds. The performance appeared to set new African and Nigerian U20 records.

The celebration, however, lasted only briefly. Faye’s spikes were found not to be on the World Athletics-approved list, resulting in the team’s disqualification and the removal of the record from the books.

Two relay opportunities. Two heartbreaking disqualifications…

For a group of young Nigerian athletes who had shown enough speed to challenge the world’s best, Eugene delivered a harsh blow.

The disappointment will surely sting, but they have already proven themselves at the bigger stage. However, the challenge now is turning these painful lessons into experience and making sure the next time opportunity knocks, they are ready to answer.