Amusan begins Olympics campaign today

Nigeria’s flagbearer at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Tobi Amusan, will begin her hunt for an Olympic medal in the first round of the women’s 100m hurdles at the Stade de France on Wednesday (today), The PUNCH reports.

The world record holder is one of Nigeria’s medal prospects at the games and will be looking to boost the chances of adding to the country’s tally in her third appearance at the multi-sport event.

Amusan is certainly among the favourites for the gold medal, but that won’t come easy, contending with a strong field that includes the Bahamas’ Devynne Charlton, USA’s Alaysha Johnson, world champion Danielle Williams and reigning Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico.

The first round of the event begins by 9:15 am Nigerian time today, with the semi-finals to follow on Friday, August 9, while the final is slated for the penultimate day of the athletics event, Saturday, August 10.

Amusan will compete in the first of five heats with the first three in each as well as three fastest non automatic qualifiers from the five races advancing to the semifinals while the rest will compete again in the repechage.

The 27-year-old has been in great form in the run-up to the sports fiesta, running a season’s best and then world lead of 12.40s (0.9) at the Jamaican Athletics Invitational in Kingston in May.

Before then, she had set the African 60m hurdles indoor record twice in January and February.

In March, she won her third consecutive African Games title in Ghana, plus anchoring the women’s 4x100m to gold in Accra as well as the African Championships in Cameroon three months later.

This season, she has competed in 17 events, which include the 60m, 100m, 100m hurdles, and the 4x100m relay.

Amusan, a three-time (consecutive) Diamond League winner, two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, two-time African champion, and three-time African Games gold medallist, has participated in two Olympic Games (Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020).