Amusan breaks African record after winning Diamond League

Tobi Amusan has become the first Nigerian athlete ever to win a Diamond League Trophy since the inception of the league in 2010.

Amusan broke Glory Alozie’s 23-year African record with a time of 12.42secs to win gold in 100m women’s Hurdles at the ongoing Diamond League in Zurich.

Alozie ran 12.44secs in Monaco on August 8, 1998 to set a new African record, running the time two other times in Brussels 20 days later and at the World Championships on August 28, 1999 in Seville, Spain.

Amusan placed first ahead of Dutch Nadine Visser, who finished second in a time of 12.51secs. 2020 Olympics bronze medallist, Megan Tapper, from Jamaica, placed third in 12.55secs.

She missed the opportunity to break the African record at the Olympics Trials at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, when a faulty electronic timer marred the final of the women’s 100m hurdles.

The hand timer, which was eventually used, recorded that Amusan won the race in 12.3secs, which would have erased Alozie’s 12.44secs, which was set in 1998.

Amusan, who narrowly missed out on a podium finish at the Olympics after placing fourth behind Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, the USA’s Kendra Harrison and Tapper, has been involved in four races after the global sports showpiece.

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She has however had a good post-Olympics, breaking the meets record at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in Silesia, Poland, on Sunday in a time of 12.64secs.

Amusan also won the Citius Meeting in 12.80secs in Bern, Switzerland August 21 and placed fourth at the Paris Diamond League a week later.

Interestingly, a photo finish was used to separate her and the winner Nadine Visser at the Brussels Diamond League, with a time of 12.69secs last Friday.