Team Nigeria was left in shock today after their star athlete Tobi Amusan stumbled in her bid for a medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Amusan holds the world record in the women’s 110 metres hurdles at 12.12 seconds and is one of the top athletes in that event.
The 27-year-old eased into the semi-finals with an assured run in the first round two days ago and nobody doubted her ability to reach the final and fight for a medal.
However, she fell short today, clocking 12.55s in her semi-final heat to place third.
She missed automatic qualification reserved for the top two in each of three semi-finals and also missed out on one of the non-automatic spots, as she placed ninth overall.
Her race was won by Grace Stark of the United States of America in 12.39s, with Devyne Charlton of Bahamas coming second in 12.50s.
Overall, USA’s Alaysha Johnson had the best semi-final time of 12.34s, followed by Tokyo 2020 champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico (12.35s) and Masai Russell, also of the USA (12.42s).
Amusan, carrying Nigeria’s medal hope, is capable of running all these times even when she’s not in great form, but she had a slow start today and could not recover in time to reach the final.
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