At last, consistency pays off as Joseph Fahnbulleh wins double gold
After a lengthy drought of gold medals in the African Athletics Championship, team Liberia is celebrating yet another proud moment. This time, they have gold medals.
The team’s consistent participation in the African Championship finally paid off, with three gold medals.
At the ongoing 23rd African Athletics Championship in Douala, Cameroon, Joseph Fahnbulleh—Liberia’s first-ever Olympic finalist—became a double champion as he won the men’s 100m and 200m events.
Fahnbulleh finished first ahead of Emmanuel Eseme, the home favorite, in 10.13 seconds to 10.15 seconds to win his first African title in the 100m on Saturday, June 22. On Wednesday, he completed his double by winning the men’s 200m with a time of 20.20 seconds.
The 22-year-old will be looking to take the podium in Paris when he represents Liberia in both 100m and 200m events.
Ebony Morrison made history on Saturday, June 22, when she triumphed in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, securing Liberia’s first-ever goal medal at the championship.
Morrison also made history in the previous edition held in Mauritius by winning Liberia’s first-ever silver medal, surpassing her own national record of 12.74 seconds set at the 2020 Summer Olympics with a time of 12.70 seconds.
Saturday’s result also secured Morrison’s ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics, her second Olympics.
Not only did Team Liberia end the gold medal drought, but they also added additional medals to their total medal tally in the championship.
Continuing from where she left off at the African Games, where she also won silver in the women’s 100m, Maia McCoy made her championship debut with a silver in that event.
McCoy finished second with a time of 11.16, behind Gina Bitaye of the Gambia, who finished first with a time of 11.14.
Though McCoy didn’t meet the qualifying standard time for the 2024 Paris Olympics, she qualified based on her world rankings quota.
In the women’s 4×4 relay, Ebony Morrison, Destiny Smith-Barnett, Maia McCoy, and Thelma Davis secured a bronze medal, bringing Liberia’s total bronze medal count to five at the championship.
The African Championships in Athletics is a continental athletics event organized by the Confederation of African Athletics, the continental association for the sport in Africa. Since its inaugural edition in 1979, it has been organized intermittently, with nine editions held every fourteen years until 1993
Liberia had won five medals, including a silver and four bronzes, before this year’s competition.
