In a dazzling display of skill and determination, Nigerian athlete Tobi Amusan secured her third consecutive Diamond League trophy on Sunday night in Oregon, USA. Amusan triumphed in the fiercely competitive 100-meter hurdles event with a remarkable time of 12.33 seconds.
This victory comes on the heels of a disappointing performance at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. However, Amusan’s outstanding performance in Oregon has etched her name into the annals of Diamond League history, making her only the second woman, after Dawn Nelson-Harper, to achieve a hat-trick of 100-meter hurdles titles.
Remarkably, Amusan’s victory in Oregon holds special significance, as it was in the same location where she clinched the world title last year and set a world record in the process.
In the closely contested race, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico finished a close second with a time of 12.38 seconds, while American Keni Harrison secured the third spot with 12.44 seconds. Jamaica’s Danielle Williams, who dethroned Amusan in Budapest, finished fourth with a time of 12.47 seconds.
The athletics season had posed challenges for Amusan, notably with her provisional suspension by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for whereabouts failures in the lead-up to the World Championships. Fortunately, she was cleared by a disciplinary tribunal just before the event, although her performance in Budapest was uncharacteristically subpar.
Despite uncertainty surrounding potential appeals, Amusan refocused her efforts, setting her sights on next year’s Olympic Games in Paris. Her emphatic victory in Oregon now reaffirms her status as one of the world’s premier sprint hurdlers.
Amusan initially made history in 2021 by clinching her first Diamond League title with a 12.42-second run, setting an African record and becoming the first Nigerian to achieve this feat. Undeterred by skeptics, she defended her title the following year, clocking a new Weltklasse meeting record of 12.29 seconds in Zurich, Switzerland.
In her latest triumph, Amusan completed her hat-trick of Diamond League wins with a season-best time of 12.33 seconds in Eugene, Oregon, cementing her legacy as one of Nigeria’s most accomplished athletes.
