World Record holder, Tobi Amusan has raised Nigeria’s hopes of a podium finish as she started her Paris Olympic campaign with a strong victory in the heats of the women’s 100m hurdles.
Amusan hardly broke a sweat as she dominated the entire field, running a solid 12.49s despite being seeded in lane 9.
Alaysha Johnson was 2nd in 12.61s while Janeek Brown placed 3rd with a time of 12.84s.
This is Amusan’s third consecutive Olympic Games and her third time making the semifinals.
The 27-year-old athlete has shown impressive form leading up to the sports event. She recorded a season’s best and world-leading time of 12.40 seconds at the Jamaican Athletics Invitational in May.
Earlier, she set the African indoor record for the 60m hurdles twice in January and February. In March, she won her third consecutive African Games title in Ghana, anchored the women’s 4x100m relay team to gold in Accra, and triumphed at the African Championships in Cameroon.
This season, she has competed in 17 events, including the 60m, 100m, 100m hurdles, and 4x100m relay. Amusan is a three-time Diamond League winner, two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, two-time African champion, and three-time African Games gold medallist, having participated in the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Amusan is undoubtedly one of the favourites for the gold medal, but it won’t be an easy feat ahead of the semi-finals which will be held on Friday, August 9, while the final is slated for the penultimate day of the athletics event, Saturday, August 10.
Meanwhile, Nigeria continued to miss out of a podium finish as Udodi Chudi Onwuzurike failed to make it out of the men’s 200m semi-final race as he finished seventh clocking 20.72 seconds just as his compatriot, Ezekiel Nathaniel also failed to qualify for the 400m hurdles final as he crashed out in the semi-finals.
Nathaniel placed fifth in the first semi-final race in a time of 48.65 seconds, a far cry of what he ran in the heat.
It will be recalled he had broken a 12-year record at the Olympic Games qualifying for the semifinals of the men’s 400m hurdles event.
Similarly, Christianah Ogunsanya lost her first bout following her defeat in the second round of the women’s freestyle 53kg by Mongolia’s Khulan Batkhuyag. She will now battle for bronze medal in the Repechage round.
Alsom Edose Ibadin finished 6th in heat 2 of the men’s 800m but will compete in the Repechage round to fight for another chance into the semi-finals.
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