Diamond League: Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan breaks 23-year African record

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Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan set a new African record in the 100m Hurdles event after storming to a winning time of 12.42s in the Diamond League final meet held in Zurich on Thursday.

Amusan’s winning time erases Glory Alozie’s previous feat of 12.44s set in 1999 and also saw her become the first Nigerian to ever win a Diamond League title.

The petite sprint hurdler is expected to pocket USD 30,000 in prize money as well as getting a wild card for next year’s World Athletics Championships in Oregon, U.S.A.

Since her agonising miss at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics where she missed out on a medal as widely expected, Amusan has shown great composure and tenacity.

Amusan emerged tops at the Continental Tour Gold meeting at the Stadion Slaski in Chorzow, Poland on Sunday, September 5.

At the weekend, she won the 100m Hurdles event with a time of 12.64s ahead of Olympic bronze medalist Megan Tapper who clocked 12.75. The USA’s Christina Clemons was third in 12.92.

Before Sunday’s win, Amusan had also claimed victory at the Citius Meeting, Bern, Switzerland in August where she set a new Meet Record.

Her winning time at the Citius Meeting was 12.80s, ahead of Poland’s Klaudia Siciarz and Australia’s Clay Liz.

Amusan is the reigning African and Commonwealth Games 100m hurdles queen.