2022 World Athletics Championships: Amusan Sets New African Record

Nigerian hurdler, Tobi Amusan, set a new African record in the heat three of the 100m women’s hurdles at the just World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA en route qualifying for the semi-finals.
The record saw the 25-year old led the semi-final race which took place in the early hours of yesterday.
Amusan, who previously held a personal best and African record of 12.41 seconds in June, surpassed her previous feat on Saturday as she ran a new record heat time ever at a global championship, finishing her race with a time of 12.40 seconds.
The UTEP alumnus, who missed out on the podium in Tokyo 2021, has now broken the African record three times in ten months (12.42 seconds in Zurich, 12.41 seconds in Paris and 12.40secs in Eugene).
The Nigerian hurdler finished ahead of Jamaica’s Danielle Williams (12.87 seconds), Ireland’s Sarah Lavin (12.99 seconds) and Australia’s Celeste Mucci (13.01 seconds).
In the semi-finals, the reigning African Games and African Championships will be up against US’s Alia Armstrong who recorded a time of 12.48 seconds.
Also in the semi-finals are Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn with a time of 12.52 seconds and Jamaica’s Brittany Anderson who finished first with a time of 12.59 seconds  in heat one.
Amusan, who finished fourth three years ago at the World Championship in Doha, is seeking to become the second Nigerian sprint hurdler to win a medal at the championships after Glory Alozie, who won a silver medal in Seville, Spain in 1999.
This time around, Amusan felt that she could finally win a medal, buoyed by this recent achievements.
Also on Saturday, the quartet of Joy Udo-Gabriel, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma and Grace Nwokocha, secured qualification for the final of the Women’s 4×100m event.
Aside from being the second Nigerian relay team to make it to the final in Oregon, they are the first Nigerian team in 11 years to qualify for the women’s 4x100m final at the world championships.
The Nigerian ladies achieved the commendable feat after racing to a Season’s Best of 42.68 seconds to finish third in Heat 2 of the event.