Kuwait City, Kuwait, May 16, 2022: A dust storm closed down Kuwait International Airport late on Monday but it could not stop Qatar speedster Tosin Ogunode from taking off with the gold medal in the men’s 100m finals at the 3rd GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) Games Kuwait 2022.
While Mother Nature played havoc by disrupting flights due to poor visibility, the showpiece event in athletics produced a stellar performance from the younger of the famed Ogunode brothers at the Ahmad Al Rashdan Track & Field venue in Keifan.
Spectators who braved the dust storm to witness the men’s 100m finals, the penultimate race on the opening day of the Gulf Games, may also have witnessed a passing of the torch from the elder Ogunode, Femi, to the younger Ogunode, Tosin.
While Tosin, 28, blitzed the field in a winning time of 10.05 second to grab hold of the gold medal, Femi, 30, could only manage a seventh-place finish in 10.91. It was a far cry for Femi, a four-time Asian Games gold medallist and former holder of the Asian 100m record of 9.91 back in 2015.
“I’m not a hundred per cent. I was injured in a Diamond League race and I still haven't fully recovered from it,” Femi told Qatar media personnel after his disappointing performance.
Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Akbar won the silver medal in 10.21 while the bronze went to Omani Barakat Al Harthi in 10.30.
The title of fastest woman in the Gulf went to Oman’s Mazoon Al Alawi who won the women’s 100m in 11.47 earlier in the day. Hometown favourite Mudahawi Al Shammari won the silver medal in 11.52 and Bahrain’s Hajar Al Khaldi took home the bronze in 11.56.
