Follow Us on Google
By Monica Iheakam
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan Tuesday evening showed no sign of rustiness as she zoomed into the semi finals of the 100 meters women’s hurdles event at the ongoing World Athletics Championship in Budapest, Hungary.
The World hurdles record holder wearing bib number 1159, made short work of the Heat 5 proceedings , breasting the tape in a time of 12.48 seconds to lead others.
Amusan will now be seeking to make her third straight final when the semifinal takes place on Wednesday evening, starting from 7.45pm.
The Commonwealth gold medalist who set a world record mark of 12.12 secs in the semis at the 2022 Championships in Oregon en route to a stunning wind assisted 12.06. Secs in the final, was only cleared to compete in Budapest two days to the commencement of the championship after being suspended initially by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for allegedly missing three anti-doping tests.
Last year the reigning African and Commonwealth Games champion scorched to a 12.12 world record run in the semifinal before storming home first in the final to become the first Nigerian to win a World outdoor title.
She will be hoping lightning can strike twice and, yet again, successfully defend a title after her success at the Nigerian and African Championships as well as at the Commonwealth Games and the Diamond League last year.
Others who qualified for the semi finals includes; Kendra Harrison of USA with a World Lead(WL) of 12.24, Devynne Charlton of Bahamas with a National Record (NR) of 12.48. Puerto Rica’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn also qualified in a time of 12.50.
In all, 24 athletes will jostle for the semi finals of the event on Day 5 of the championship.
