Oluwatobiloba Amusan is displaying the kind of consistency needed to rub shoulders with the best female hurdlers in the world, with the Nigerian on Saturday breaking the Texas Relays 100m Hurdles Meet Record(MR) clocking a time of 12.72s to now rank number 1 in the world.
Just last weekend, Amusan ran a new Personal Best (PB) of 12.63s to win at the University of Texas El Paso Springtime meet, and now her recent win in Texas further lends credence to her potentials.
Before the final on Saturday, Amusan ran the fastest time in the preliminaries, winning heat 2 in 12.75s (+3.6), going further to improve in the final where she set a new MR to eclipse the 12.83s ran by Ashlee Williams in 2005. Rushelle Burton finished 2nd in the race with a time of 12.80s while Mikiah Brisco was 3rd in 12.85s.
100m hurdle champion and new Texas Relays meet record holder Tobi Amusan!! #PicksUp ⛏ pic.twitter.com/SCME5c3WVJ
— UTEP Track & Field (@UTEPTrack) April 1, 2017
There is no doubt that Amusan is the most in-form Nigerian athlete at the moment, and now holds the two fastest times in the world in 2017, although her time of 12.63s is yet to be ratified by the IAAF. If she continues and improves further, Amusan could go as far as getting to the finals of the women’s 100m Hurdles at the World Championships later this year in London.
Meanwhile, there were other Nigerian athletes who also competed and made impressive appearances at the Texas Relays.
In the women’s 100m invitational, Jennifer Madu and Stephanie Kalu finished 2nd and 3rd with times of 11.31s and 11.35s respectively, in a race won by US-born Morolake Akinosun who crossed the line in 11.10s. Another US athlete of Nigerian descent who was in that race, Courtney Okolo Did Not Finish (DNF).
While in the women’s 100m Hurdles invitational, Nigeria’s Lindsay Lindley won with a time of 13.12s, beating Erica Bougard who was 2nd in 13.19s, and Evonne Britton 3rd in 13.40s.
In the men’s 400m Hurdles invitational, Nigeria’s Obokhare Ikpefan won with a time of 50.83s, defeating Luke Campbell who was 2nd in 51.16s and Max Scheible 3rd in 51.83s.
The trio of Madu (Track Station 43.40s), Kalu (Axis Athletics 43.90s) and Olivia Ekpone (TG Athletics 44.27s) all helped their different teams finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively in the women’s 4x100m.
While the duo of Florence Uwakwe and Ada Benjamin were part of the UTEP team that finished 3rd in the women’s 4x400m running a time of 3:40.95.
Field Events:
In the men’s Triple Jump, Felix Obi finished 2nd with a mark of 16.67m (+2.0) with Matthew O’Neal winning the event going a distance of 17.28m (+3.1) and Jordan Scott 3rd with (+4.2).
Gabriel Oladipo also of Nigerian descent, finished 3rd in the Shot Put with a mark of 19.12m, however it was in the Discus that he really showed his mettle. Oladipo won the Boys Discus with a throw of 62.50m, beating Adrian Piperi who had beaten him in the Shot Put, with the latter now finishing 2nd with a throw of 59.81m and Michael Matus 3rd with 57.02m.
In the men’s Shot Put Section A University/College invitational, Oghenakpobo Efekoro who represented Nigeria at the 2016 African Championships in Durban, won with a mark of 19.63m. Zachary Stetler finished 2nd with 18.58m and Cameron Cornelius 3rd with a throw of 18.05m.
