If there was ever a doubt that Oluwatobiloba Amusan is the Nigerian athlete in great form going to the 2017 World Championships, such has been put to bed after she raced to a new Personal Best (PB) of 12.57s to win the women’s 100m Hurdles at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) finals on Saturday.
Just a year after she finished 2nd in Oregon when few gave her a chance as she was making her NCAA final debut, Amusan would be delighted to have finally gotten her hands on the title, joining the elite league of Nigerian athletes like Blessing Okagbare to have won an NCAA title.
In what was a stacked race, Amusan, representing her school University of Texas at El Paso(UTEP), came out tops, beating defending champion Kentucky’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn who was 2nd in 12.58s, with Texas’ Rushelle Burton finishing 3rd in 12.65s.
To show how competitive the race was, all eight finalists ran under 13s, and even 8th place finisher, Anna Cockrell clocked a time of 12.91s, way more than the World Championships qualifying time of 12.98s.
WHAT A RACE!!! Tobi Amsuan able to power through to a time of 12.57 and 100m Hurdle NCAA Champion!! #minerstrong ⛏️⛏️⛏️ pic.twitter.com/f4MntTo15e
— UTEP Track & Field (@UTEPTrack) June 10, 2017
Pending ratification from the IAAF, Amusan’s newest time will see her rank at No.2 in the world, with only World Record (WR) holder Kendra Harrison having run faster this year with a time of 12.56s.
This further underlines how far Amusan has come this season, running a then PB of 12.63s back in March at an invitational in El Paso.
If Amusan continues with this impressive form, who knows what could happen in London. There is now a huge possibility that she could finish on the podium come August; don’t just bet against it.
