After failing to get the 12.83 seconds she ran in 2016 ratified as a World U20 record due to race organisers inability to organise a post race Antidoping test, Tobi Amusan finally got her dream realised at World Athletics’ flagship event, the World Athletics Championships.
The petite, 25 year old had served notice of her immense talent when she won the African Games 100m hurdles title as an 18 year old.
Seven years later, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion has made history as the first Nigerian to set a world record and win a world title.
Also Read: ‘Congrats Amusan, You Smashed My Record’ –Former 100m Hurdles World Record Holder, Harrison
Completesports.com presents the eight incredible feats Amusan has achieved viz the records set and history made…
First to set a world record
Tobi Amusan’s incredible 12.12 seconds run at the semifinal stage of the women’s 100m hurdles in Oregon at the 18th World Athletics Championships is a new world record.
The Nigerian broke Kendra Harrison’s six year old 12.20 seconds record.
First Nigerian to win a World
Athletics Outdoor Championships gold
Amusan made history in Oregon, USA where she became the first Nigerian, man or woman to win a World Athletics Outdoor Championships gold.
She achieved this feat through her event, the 100m hurdles, running a wind-aided 12.06 seconds to win in the final of the event.
First Nigerian nay African woman to break 12.40 seconds in the 100m hurdles
Amusan is the only sprint hurdler in Africa to run a sub-12.40 seconds. She had earlier joined Glory Alozie as the second Nigerian and African woman to break 12.50 seconds when she ran 12.49 at a meeting in France in July 2019.
African Games record holder
Amusan won the 100m hurdles gold at the 2019 African Games in a record-setting manner. The Nigerian set two games record on her way to the podium. She started with a 12.69 seconds to break Glory Alozie’s 12.74 seconds record achieved 20 years earlier in Johannesburg, South Africa. She then broke her own games record in the final, running 12.68 seconds to win the title.
Fastest Nigerian in World Athletics Championships history
Before Oregon 2022, Glory Alozie held the honour of being the fastest Nigerian over the 100m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships courtesy of the 12.44 seconds she ran to win the silver medal in the event at the seventh edition of the championships in Seville, Spain.
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In Oregon, 23 years later, Amusan first ran 12.40 seconds in the first round to become the fastest Nigerian in the event in the history of the championships. The 25 year old took it to a completely new level with her stunning 12.12 seconds world record performance.
Nigerian championships record holder
Amusan’s 12.54 seconds performance to successfully defend her Nigerian 100m hurdles title at the Nigerian championships last month in Benin City is also the fastest time ever ran at the championships, erasing Angela Atede’s 12.63 seconds performance achieved in June 1997 in Lagos.
First Nigerian to win a Diamond League trophy
Amusan made history at the Weltklasse in Zurich last year when she ran 12.42 seconds to break Glory Alozie’s African record set in 1998. The time propelled Amusan to win the 100m hurdles title, the first by a Nigerian in any event in the Diamond League era
Fastest Nigerian sprint hurdler to run at the Olympics
Amusan’s 12.60 seconds run in the final of the delayed Tokyo Olympics is the fastest time by a Nigerian in the history of Nigeria’s participation at the games.
Alozie, who won an Olympic silver medal held the record before Amusan’s arrival. Alozie ran 12.68 seconds in the final in Sydney to win the silver medal and emerged Nigeria’s fastest girl at the time.
By Dare Esan
