National 400m champion Favour Onyah says she has reached her breaking point after being left out of Nigeria’s 2026 Commonwealth Games squad despite earning qualification at the national trials.
Nigeria’s reigning women’s 400m champion, Favour Onyah, has expressed her disappointment after being left out of the country’s athletics team for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, despite securing qualification at the National Athletics Trials.
The 19-year-old impressed at the trials in Lagos, where she claimed the women’s 400m title in a time of 52.68 seconds. Her performance also earned her a place in Nigeria’s women’s 4x400m relay pool alongside Patience Okon-George, Ella Onojuvwevwo and Esther Joseph, as preparations for the Games got underway.
Onyah was among the athletes invited to the first phase of the national training camp, which opened in Abuja on June 25. However, while the rest of the squad later travelled to Aberdeen, Scotland, for the final leg of preparations, she was not included and subsequently returned to the United States to continue training.
The omission appears to have pushed the young sprinter to her limit.
In a TikTok post, Onyah revealed that she would no longer compete for Nigeria at the Games, hinting that she could be considering a different path after what she described as repeated disappointments.
“Yes, I qualified for my first senior Commonwealth Games. And yes, I won’t be running for Nigeria. You can never guess the reason. I already forgave them three times; I don’t plan on making it four. You all are free to judge me for the next step I’ll be taking. I’ve had enough.”
Onyah has been one of Nigeria’s brightest young athletes in recent years. At the 2025 CAA U-20 African Athletics Championships in Abeokuta, she won three gold medals, dominating the women’s 400m before anchoring Nigeria to victory in both the women’s and mixed 4x400m relay events.
Her exclusion has added to growing concerns surrounding Nigeria’s team selection process. Several athletes who performed strongly at the National Trials have also questioned how the final Commonwealth Games squad was chosen
