January 27, (THEWILL) – Nigerian hurdler, Tobi Amusan, has set a new African women’s 60-metre hurdles indoor record after finishing the race under 7.77 seconds at the Astana Indoor Meet in Kazakhstan, on Saturday. The 26-year-old crossed the finish line ahead of American Nia Ali and Ireland’s Sarah Lavin.
Amusan’s new record beats the previous African mark of 7.82 seconds set by fellow Nigerian, Gloria Alozie, in Madrid, Spain back in 1999. This impressive performance comes as the first race of the 2024 athletics season for Amusan following a controversial end to her highly successful 2023 campaign.
Last summer, Amusan was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit for three whereabouts violations in 12 months, putting her participation at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in jeopardy. However, she was cleared of any wrongdoing just days before the competition began. Despite this, she failed to defend her 100m hurdles world title, finishing 6th in the final in Budapest, Hungary.
Amusan quickly bounced back from the controversy by winning her third Diamond League trophy in a row at the end of the 2023 season. Now, with this new indoor 60m hurdles African record, she has started the 2024 campaign off strongly as well.
This year, the 26-year-old Nigerian will be hoping to capture her first-ever Olympic medal when the Summer Olympic Games kick off in Paris, France in June. After breaking the 100m hurdles world record in 2022 with a blistering time of 12.12 seconds, an Olympic medal is certainly within reach.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
