Naomi Metzger Explained

Naomi Metzger
Birth Name:Naomi Ogbeta
Nationality:British
Birth Date:18 April 1998
Birth Place:Salford, England
Sport:Athletics
Event:Triple jump
Club:Trafford AC
Coach:Aston Moore[1]
Nationals:10-time British champion
Highestranking:12th
Pb:14.37 m (2022)

Naomi Metzger (born 18 April 1998) is a British track and field athlete who competes in the triple jump. She holds a personal best of 14.37 m (set in 2022) and is a ten-time British champion (6 outdoors, 4 indoors). She represented Great Britain in the triple jump at the 2018 and 2022 European Athletics Championships, the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the 2022 World Athletics Championships. She also represented England in the triple jump at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, winning a Bronze medal in a new personal best of 14.37m.

Career

Ogbeta began taking part in athletics at the age of 13, signing up with Salford Metropolitan Athletics Club. She won two Greater Manchester schools titles over 200 metres in 2012 and 2013. She joined Trafford AC in Manchester in 2014 and,[2] after a switch to the triple jump, she won the English Schools' Athletics Championships.[3] Having won her first English under-20 title, she made her international debut at the 2015 World Youth Championships in Athletics and narrowly missed out on the final, jumping the same distance of 12.75 m as qualifier Yelena Drozhilina.[4] In 2016 she was the English Under-20 Champion both indoors and out.[3] Ogbeta won a third under-20 English title in 2017 and was indoor and outdoor champion at the British University Championships. Her career reached new heights with a win at the 2017 British Athletics Championships and a bronze medal at the 2017 European Athletics U20 Championships.[2]

Ogbeta began 2018 with a runner-up finish at the 2018 British Indoor Athletics Championships, then wins at the BUCS Championships and the England U23 Championships. She repeated as national champion at the 2018 British Athletics Championships, gained selection for the British team at the Athletics World Cup, where she was sixth, and the 2018 European Athletics Championships, where she was twelfth in her first major final having set a personal best of 14.15 m in qualifying.[5] She won at the 2019 British Indoor Athletics Championships with 14.05 m – her first clearance over fourteen metres indoors. She was 2 centimetres off qualifying for the final at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships, taking ninth place. She won the English U23 title and a third straight British title at the 2019 British Athletics Championships. She placed fourth at the 2019 European Athletics U23 Championships and seventh at the 2019 European Team Championships Super League that summer.[3] She was invited to compete at the 2019 World Athletics Championships based on her IAAF world ranking, but was not selected for the team by British Athletics. Instead she attended the championships in a media capacity, providing an athlete perspective in the BBC's television coverage.[6]

She became British champion for the fourth successive year when winning the triple jump event at the 2020 British Athletics Championships with a jump of 13.44 metres.[7]

Personal life

She lives in Salford.[1] Her brother, Nathanael Ogbeta, is a footballer. She attended the University of Manchester, studying politics and quantitative methods, and was a member of the comedy society there.[8] She was a member of the Salford Youth Council and has appeared on BBC News television and radio, discussing Brexit.[9] She is of Nigerian and Jamaican heritage.[10]

International competitions

2015World Youth ChampionshipsCali, Colombia13th (q)Triple jump12.75 m
2017European U20 ChampionshipsGrosseto, Italy3rdTriple jump13.68 m
2018European ChampionshipsBerlin, Germany12thTriple jump13.94 m
2019European Indoor ChampionshipsGlasgow, United Kingdom9th (q)Triple jump13.80 m
European U23 ChampionshipsGävle, Sweden4thTriple jump13.64 m
European Team ChampionshipsBydgoszcz, Poland7thTriple jump13.90 m
2022World ChampionshipsEugene, United States18th (q)Triple jump13.97 m
European ChampionshipsMunich, Germany6thTriple jump14.33 m

National titles

2017, 2018, 2019

2018, 2019, 2020

Notes and References

  1. https://www.britishathletics.org.uk/athletes/naomi-ogbeta/ Naomi Ogbeta
  2. Halford, Paul (8 November 2018). Naomi Ogbeta’s triple talent. Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
  3. https://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=424233 Naomi Ogbeta
  4. https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-u18-championships/9th-iaaf-world-youth-championships-2015-5408/results/women/triple-jump/qualification/summary Triple Jump Girls 9th IAAF World Youth Championships 2015
  5. https://www.iaaf.org/athletes/great-britain-ni/naomi-ogbeta-296070 Naomi Ogbeta
  6. https://twitter.com/AthleticsWeekly/status/1174983736078872577 BBC announces that its team to cover the IAAF World Champs in Doha includes Olympic and world champions Michael Johnson, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Denise Lewis and Daley Thompson plus triple jumper Naomi Ogbeta to offer a 'current athlete's perspective'
  7. Web site: Results list. British Athletics.
  8. https://www.britishathletics.org.uk/news-and-features/futures-in-focus-naomi-ogbeta/ FUTURES IN FOCUS: NAOMI OGBETA
  9. White, Peter (25 February 2019). Politics, comedy and triple jump: the hectic lifestyle of British champion Naomi Ogbeta. Sports Gazette. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
  10. Web site: Shrewsbury Town sporting siblings drive each other at top of the game. Lewis. Cox. www.shropshirestar.com.