The ever-reliable Tobi Express

By Gowon Akpodonor

Team Nigeria’s flagbearer and world record holder in the women’s 100-metre hurdles, Tobi Amusan, recorded another major point on Wednesday morning when she ‘strolled’ to the semifinals of the event in Paris.

Tobi Express, as she is fondly called by her admirers, cruised into the semifinals in a time of 12.49 seconds ahead of Alaysha Johnson of America, who clocked 12.61 seconds.

The Ogun State-born sprinter’s timing was the second fastest after Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico’s 12.42 seconds.

The semi-finals took place on Thursday.

Born some 27 years ago, Oluwatobiloba Ayomide “Tobi” Amusan is the current world record holder in the 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.12 seconds which she set at the 2022 women’s 100 metres hurdles semi-final in Eugene Oregon.

Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent, Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Bahamas’ Devynne Charlton, Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan, USA’s Kendra Harrison and USA’s Nia Ali compete in the women’s 100m hurdles final. Photo by Ferenc Isza for AFP

She is the current Commonwealth champion in the 100m hurdles and the meet record holder in those two competitions.

READ MORE: Tobi Amusan claims 100m hurdles in record time

Amusan became the first-ever Nigerian world champion and world record holder in an athletics event when she won the 2022 World Championships 100m hurdles gold medal, setting the current world record of 12.12 seconds.

Tobi Express is also the current Diamond League champion in the 100-metre hurdles, having won the final in 12.33 seconds, achieving a winning streak in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Amusan has one of the fastest times in the event this year.

CLEAN ATHLETE

Amusan is the first member of Nigeria’s athletics team to be the flagbearer in 20 years after Mary Onyali carried the flag at the 2004 Athens Games.

In the build-up to the Paris Olympics, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, (CAS), cleared Amusan of an anti-doping rule violation, rejecting appeals from World Athletics and the World Anti-Doping Agency. WADA had charged her in July 2023 with missing three anti-doping tests in 12 months.

“I am a CLEAN ATHLETE, and I am regularly; (maybe more than the usual) tested by the AIU. I was tested within days of my third ‘missed test’,” Amusan said after she was charged. Her CAS clearance allows her to focus on the Olympic Games in search of the only gold medal missing from her very rich and intimidating CV.

Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan reacts during the women’s 60m hurdles final at Astana Indoor Meet for Amin Tuyakov Prizes during the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold in Astana, on January 27, 2024. (Photo by STRINGER / AFP)

Earlier this year, in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, Amusan won her third consecutive African Games title. She also anchored Nigeria’s 4x100m relay to gold at the last African Senior championship in Duoala, Cameroon in June.