Wednesday, July 15, 2026

World Championships: Nigeria’s Amusan sets new African record

The record sees Amusan, 25, lead the semi-final race, which is expected to take place in the early hours of Monday.

• July 24, 2022
Tobiloba Amusan
Tobiloba Amusan

Nigerian hurdler Tobi Amusan set a new African record in heat three of the 100 metres women’s hurdles at the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Oregon, U.S., to qualify for the semi-finals.

The record sees Amusan, 25, lead the semi-final race, which is expected to take place in the early hours of Monday.

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 U.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 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. She won a silver medal in Seville, Spain, in 1999.

This time around, Amusan will feel that she can finally win a medal, buoyed by these 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 4×100 metres 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.

(NAN)

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Governor Charles Soludo

States

Land Dispute: Anambra community seeks Soludo’s intervention

Mrs Obi appealed to the governor to ensure justice prevailed.

Vice-President Kashim Shettima

Heading 2

Shettima inaugurates $500 million Niger Delta agricultural investment fund

According to him, Nigeria cannot afford to take the promise of an agricultural boom for granted.

Chinatown

World

China’s economy slows to lowest quarterly growth in three years

“In the first half of the year, the national economy operated within a reasonable range,” the NBS said.

ISO certification

Heading 5

Body warns businesses against fake ISO certification

Mr Edokpolo said many businesses had unknowingly obtained certificates from quack operators.

Dei-Dei community.

Abuja

FCT: Waste management challenges threaten health, environment in Dei-Dei community ‎

Mr Nnadinma said overflowing refuse dumps attracted disease-carrying pests.

Courtroom

Lagos

Ajiran Killings: CSOs caution against social media misinformation

Mr Lawnson stressed the need to protect ongoing investigations.