Team Nigeria’s Oluwatobiloba Amusan kept alive the country’s hopes of winning a medal at the 2019 World Championships, powering to a new Personal Best (PB) of 12.48s to run the fastest time in women’s 100m Hurdles heats.
Coming into the World Championships with a PB of 12.49s and also posting a fast 12.51s which she ran last month in Berlin, Amusan knew that she is in a good form to challenge the Americans and the Jamaican favourites.
The Nigerian got off to a good start, getting through the barriers cleanly and shaving off a hundredth of a second from her previous PB, taking the race ahead of Jamaica’s Janeek Brown who came in 2nd in 12.61s.
Amusan inspired a very fast Heat 5, which was so fast that seven out of the eight athletes in the race, all qualified from the heat into the semifinals on Sunday. Three of the four fastest losers came from the heat.
Nia Ali won heat 1 in 12.59s, but her compatriot Brianna McNeal suffered a shock disqualification from heat 2 because of a false start. In heat 3, World Leader Danielle Williams had no problems coming through the barriers to win in 12.51s. World Record (WR) Kendra Harrison won heat 4 in 12.55s.
Amusan will now go into the semis as the one of the big favourites, with other contenders being wary of what she’s capable of, after seeing how well she ran in the heats
If Amusan pulls off good races in the next two rounds, she would most likely get on the podium tomorrow. At the moment, she looks poised to break Gloria Alozie’s 20-year old record of 12.44s.
