Despite having a poor start, Nigeria’s brightest hope for a medal at the ongoing 2023 World Athletics Championship in Budapest, Tobi Amusan finished strong to win the second semi of the women’s 100mH in 12.56 seconds.
Drawn in lane 7 of Heat 2, the 26-year-old breezed past her rivals to cross the finished line to confirm her place in the third consecutive World Championship finals scheduled for tonight.
Amusan had opened her account in Budapest on a special note, winning Heat 5 in 12.48 seconds, but her time of 12.56s in the semis was enough for her to seal her spot in the final.
Ackera Nugent of Jamaica was 2nd in 12.60s, while Nadine Visser of the Netherlands finished 3rd in 12.62s.
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Amusan is the defending world champion in the 100m hurdles and all eyes are on her, especially after a torrid build-up to the competition in Budapest.
It will be recalled Amusan was cleared to compete about 48 hours to the start of the championship after she was suspended and charged with three whereabouts failures, an anti-doping rule violation for missing three out-of-competition tests within a 12-month period.
Amusan now has the chance to defend the only title she has not defended in her career after her successful defense of her Nigeria, African Championships, African Games, Commonwealth Games and Diamond League titles.
Meanwhile, Nigeria is among the 15 countries that are yet to win a medal as at the time of reporting.
The countries are Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Peru, Algeria, Saint Lucia, Mexico, Ukraine, Finland and Korea. Others are Austria, Burundi, Norway, Switzerland and Portugal.
In the same vein, United States lead the medal table with 12 medals, followed by Great Britain with 4 with Spain in the third position with 2 medals.
Nigeria is 35th following Ese Brume finishing 4th in the women’s long jump event but can climb up in the medals table if Amusan wins a medal tonight.
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