Nigeria’s mixed 4x400m relay team on Friday missed out on progressing into the final of the event at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

In the first round of the event which was making its Olympic debut, the team of Samson Nathaniel, Nse Uko, Patience George, and Emmanuel Ojeli could only finish fifth.

Running from lane eight in heat one of the event, Team Nigeria however went on to create an African record with their time of three minutes 13.60 seconds

The race was held amid controversy on the opening day of the Games’ athletics programme.

Poland topped the timesheets in the event’s two heats after the U.S and Dominican Republic teams were disqualified.

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But the Nigerian team in spite of this finished out of a qualification place, with the top three in each heat and the next two fastest advancings to the final.

However, for a team with a national record of 3:14.09 and season-best 3:14.09, the 3:13.60 time was only good for a new African record.

Their time placed them 10th overall in the event’s two heats.