Tobi Amusan ccould not come to the rescue of Team Nigeria Thursday evening, finishing 6th in the final of the women’s 100m hurdles. Two other Nigerian athletes had lost out in the semifinals of tgeir 200m events.
Tobi Express had a slow start and could not recover. She ran 12.62secs to place sixth in a race won by Jamaica’s Danielle Williams in 12.43secs.
America’s Kendra Harrison was third in 12.44sec while her compatriot, Nia Ali finished 4thin 12.46secs.
Amusan had made her third straight final in the 100m hurdler of the World Athletics Championships on Wednesday to raise Nigeria’s medals hope.
On her way to the final on Wednesday, Amusan came from behind to win in 12.56secs.
It was the same approach in Thursday’s final, but it failed.
The 26-year-old Amusan thus failed to successfully defend World title she at Oregon, United States last year.
Amusan had successfully defended her African Games title in 2019 and followed it up in 2022 with another successful defence of the 100m hurdles title she first won in Asaba, Delta state in 2018. She also defended her Nigerian championships title, first in 2022, and two months ago during the National Trials in Benin City, where she made it a hat-trick of wins.
Also last year, Amusan ran 12.30seconds Games record to defend the Commonwealth Games title she first won in 2018 before ending the year with another successful defence of her Diamond League title, running a 12.29 meeting record at the Weltklasse in Zurich, Switzerland.
Amusan was hit with suspension following her charge for Whereabouts Failures by Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), but was cleared to run on the eve of the competition.
Before the women’s 100m hurdles, the duo of Favour Ofili and Alaba Akintola lost out in tge semifinal of their 200m event.
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
