Tobi Amusan: How Nigerian hurdler made World Record history a year ago

A year ago, Tobi Amusan became Nigeria’s first World Record holder and World champion at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon.

A year ago (July 24th, 2022), Nigerians woke up to the ground-breaking news of Tobi Amusan becoming Nigeria’s first World Record (WR) holder and outdoor champion in athletics history.

This life-changing moment was at the eighteenth World Championships in Oregon, where she rose from being a medal challenger to superseding the world’s best in the women’s 100m Hurdles event.

Amusan first gave a tip on what to expect, clocking a new lifetime best and lowering her African Record (AR) from 12.41s to 12.40s in the qualifying heats (it was also the fastest overall time in the rounds).

In a post-race interview, she said: “I didn’t know I was running that fast, I was just trying to get to the finish line as soon as possible. My coach will be mad at me.”

Tobi Amusan’s World Record performance of 12.12s entered the top 20 best moments in World Championships history.

A day later, on July 24th, the Nigerian lined up for the semifinals, having top hurdlers such as USA’s Kendra Harrison (then WR holder in the event) in the same race.

Amusan, to the surprise of many, scaled the ten hurdles fastest past the field. After crossing the finish line, she looked up at the scoreboard. At first happiness at winning the race, then surprise, then joy.

Her time was 12.12s, a new World Record, smashing Harrison’s previous record of 12.20s that stood since 2016.

At that moment, a shocked Amusan’s first words were: “What’s happening”? The spectators at the stadium were speechless and wondered if the timer malfunctioned or if there was a wind-assistance reading to it. But no, it was a legal wind reading at 0.9m/s.

The 25-year-old improved the World Record by eight times the progress of 36 years and her personal best by almost a third of a second to make the final.

Her joy was short-lived as she had a final moment of glory to prepare for less than two hours later. With all eyes on her and everyone anticipating if her semifinal time wasn’t a fluke, Amusan lived up to expectations, bettering her time once again in the final, with 12.06s (2.5 m/s wind assisted, thus not a legal WR), becoming Nigeria’s first outdoor world champion.

Amusan’s iconic feat not only shut down the Nigerian online and media space, but was also the only topic of discussion nationwide and worldwide, certifying the gravity of how historic her WR and title performance was as one of the highlights of the World Championships.

The almost girl who had back-to-back fourth-place finishes at the Doha 2019 World Championships and Tokyo Olympics had become the best hurdler in world athletics history.

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