Itsekiri Locked Down With Training Group In Arizona

Itsekiri Locked Down With Training Group In Arizona

By Sampson Adedeji

Nigeria Sprint champion, Usheoritse Itsekiri has been locked down with his training group in Arizona, United States, due to outbreak of Coronavirus, BSNSports.com.ng reports.

When Itsekiri left Nigeria to the US for the first time to join the ALTIS training group in Arizona, he had no idea that the world was about to shut down.

While speaking to World Athletics, he said he would had remained in Nigeria if he was aware of the whole situation.

“If I had foreseen this situation, I would have probably remained in Nigeria because it’s important to be with family at this point in time, but I’m here alone in the US,” he said.

“During the lockdown we couldn’t train as a group anymore. Three of us live in the same housing complex: myself, Anaso Jobodwana and Schillonie Calvert. We used to walk down to a park that’s less than five minutes away and do some grass runs.

We found a track that’s about 380m. It wasn’t the best of tracks but we used that alongside the park just to stay fit.

“I feel terrible about the postponement of the Olympics by a year because there were so many plans and pushing it by a year is pushing all the plans one year back.

Some people say it’s more time to prepare but regrouping and starting all over again, making the same plans you made in 2019 for 2020 and not knowing if it will work, waiting for a long time and doing the same thing is very difficult," he said.

Itsekiri remained the only Nigeria men athlete that has qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic after he ran 10.02 second to win100m bronze at the 2019 African Games.