World Athletics Federation ratifies Tobi Amusan World Record
Nigerian hurdles queen Tobi Amusan has entered the record books as she has officially become the first Nigerian world record holder. The 25-year-old saw her record ratified by the World Athletics Federation on Tuesday.
At the 2022 World Athletics Championship in Oregon in July, the hurdler enjoyed great success as she set a new African record in the heats before proceeding to set a new world record in the semifinals. Amusan completed the 100mH race in 12.12 seconds, breaking the previous World record by 0.08 seconds. The former world record of 12.20 seconds had been set by American hurdler Kendra Harrison.
In the aftermath of her record-breaking race, American sprint great Michael Johnson openly questioned the integrity of the timing of the race, stating that the times recorded were dubious. His comments elicited a lot of backlash among athletics fans worldwide.
The World Athletics Federation finally ratified the records of Amusan and three other athletes, ending any questions around its integrity.
The statement read, “The world records set by Tobi Amusan, Mondo Duplantis, and Sydney McLaughlin at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 have been ratified.”
“Amusan’s 12.12 in the women’s 100m hurdles semi finals, Duplantis’s 6.21m in the men’s pole vault final and McLaughlin’s 50.68 in the women’s 400m hurdles final are all now officially in the record books, as is the world U20 mark of 9.94 set by Letsile Tebogo in the men’s 100m heats.”
As a result, Tobi Amusan has become the first Nigerian to be a world record holder at any level. The hurdler can now celebrate fully her achievements from July.
