NIGERIA’S Tobi Amusan has qualified for the women’s 100 metres hurdles final of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, where she will be up against tough rivals including Keni Harrison and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn.
The 26-year-old Amusan is the world record holder and current champion at that distance but she faces a huge battle to retain her title in tomorrow night’s final at the National Athletics Centre.
After clocking an impressive 12.48 seconds in yesterday’s first round heat, considering her month-long provisional suspension for allegedly missing three out-of-competition drug tests (she was eventually cleared), Amusan slowed down a bit tonight.
She got off to a slow start in the second of three semi-final heats and had to dig deep to win the race in 12.56s.
Amusan’s time is the second slowest of the eight finalists, only better off than Jamaican Ackera Nugent’s 12.60s.
American Harrison, who held the world record at 12.20s before Amusan broke it last year with 12.12s, returned the fastest time among the finalists with 12.33s, 24 hours after her sensational 12.24s in the first round.
Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico is second fastest with 12.41s, followed by USA’s Nia Ali (12.49s), Devynne Charlton of Bahamas (12.49s), Jamaica’s Danielle Williams (12.50s) and Ditaji Kambundji of Switzerland (12.50s).
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