Tobi Amusan

Oluwatobiloba Ayomide "Tobi" Amusan (born 23 April 1997) is a Nigerian track and field athlete who specialises in the 100 metres hurdles and also competes as a sprinter. Amusan was the world record holder in the 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.12 seconds, between July 2022 and August 2026. She is the former Commonwealth champion and current African champion in the 100 m hurdles, as well as the meet record holder in those two competitions. Amusan became the first ever Nigerian world champion and world record holder in an athletics event when she won the 2022 World Championships 100 m hurdles gold medal, setting a world record of 12.12 seconds (+0.9 m/s) in the semi-final, followed up by a 12.06 seconds (+2.5 m/s) in the final. She won back-to-back Commonwealth and African titles in 2018 and 2022 in the 100 m hurdles and is also a two-time African Games champion. She attended Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School in her hometown. In May 2023, Amusan earned Master of Arts degree in Leadership Studies and Sports Management at the University of Texas at El Paso, United States.

Career From an early age, Amusan was an accomplished athlete. She was the 200 metres silver medallist at the 2013 African Youth Championships held in Warri. A year later, she took her first major medal in the 100 metres hurdles, which was also silver, at the African Youth Games. Also in 2015, while competing in the All-Africa Games as an eighteen-year-old, she won the gold medal in the 100 m hurdles.

2016 In 2016, as a freshman at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), Amusan became the second athlete for the university to be named C-USA Female Track Athlete of the Year since UTEP joined C-USA. Amusan first broke the 13 s barrier in the hurdles with a time of 12.83 s at the El Paso UTEP Invitational. This eclipsed Kim Turner's UTEP record, which had stood for 33 years. She was runner-up at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 100 m hurdles. She ran a windy 12.79 s behind Kentucky's Jasmine Camacho-Quinn. Amusan also competed at the 2016 World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Despite running her second-fastest time ever, she placed fifth in the final. She went on to represent Nigeria at the Rio Olympic Games, reaching the semifinals of the 100 m hurdles. She was the C-USA champion in her specialist event and also the runner up in the 200 m. At the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships, there was a reversal of finishes in the 100 m hurdles. In a dramatic race, Amusan claimed the title ahead of Camacho-Quinn, the previous year's champion. She did this in a personal record time of 12.57 s. She also represented Nigeria at the World Championships in London later in the year.

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, 2015 world champion Danielle Williams seemed to be the favourite to take the title in the absence of Sally Pearson. In the final, however, Amusan moved ahead of her competitors and won the race by a clear metre ahead of Williams. She also won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m relay with her teammates, Joy Udo-Gabriel, Blessing Okagbare and Rosemary Chukwuma. Later in the year, she won her first African Championship title in her signature event at the Asaba African Championships. This fulfilled a Nigerian tradition being 11th gold for Nigeria in the 100 m hurdles since Judy Bell-Gam triumphed at the inaugural edition of the championships in 1979. She also claimed a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay at the championships.

2019: Second African Games title The 22-year-old successfully defended her African Games title in August.

2022: World, Commonwealth, African and Diamond League champion

In June, Amusan defended her 100 m hurdles title at the African Championships in Mauritius with a time of 12.57 s. She also competed in the women's 4 × 100 m relay to earn a second gold medal. The same month, she lowered her African record in her specialist event with a 12.41 s clocking when winning at the Diamond League meet in Paris.

The 25-year-old entered the World Championships held in Eugene, Oregon in July as a medal contender after back-to-back fourth-place finishes. In the heats, she again bettered her African record with a time of 12.40 s, improving by a further 0.01 s. In the semi-final, Amusan set a new world record of 12.12 seconds, breaking the previous best of 12.20 s set by American Kendra Harrison in 2016 and becoming the first Nigeria's world record holder in an athletics event. It was the largest improvement for a world record in the 100 m hurdles in 42 years. She bested her time once again in the final, running 12.06 s (2.5 m/s wind assisted, thus not a legal WR), becoming the first Nigerian world champion at the World Athletics Championships.

In August at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Amusan successfully defended her title, winning her second consecutive gold medal in the 100 m hurdles with a new Games record of 12.30 s. She also helped power Nigeria's women's 4 × 100 m relay team to gold. She competed in her specialist event at the Lausanne Diamond Race meet later that month, finishing second with a time of 12.60 s, behind reigning Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn. Amusan wrapped up her long and successful 2022 campaign by winning 100 m hurdles at the Zürich Diamond League final event with a 12.29 s performance to retain her title. She finished ahead of 2–4, Tia Jones, Britany Anderson, and Camacho-Quinn, setting a new meet record in the process.

2023 On 16 July 2023, Amusan clocked a new season best of 12.34 seconds in the 100 m Hurdles at the Silesia Diamond League meet. Three days later, Amusan was charged with missing three anti-doping controls and was given a provisional suspension from participation. On 17 August 2023, the Disciplinary Tribunal found that Amusan had not committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation of three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period and her provisional suspension was lifted. CAS upheld the decision in 2024.

At the 2023 World Championships held in Budapest, she finished sixth in the final held on 24 August.

Achievements

International competitions

Circuit win and titles Diamond League 100 m hurdles champion (3): 2021, 2022, 100 m hurdles wins, times (in seconds) specified in parentheses: 2021 (1): Zürich Weltklasse (12.42 ) 2022 (2): Paris Meeting (12.41 ), Zürich (12.29 ) 2023 (3): Stockholm Bauhaus-galan (12.52), Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial (12.34 =), Eugene Prefontaine Classic (12.33)

National and NCAA titles Nigerian Championships 100 m hurdles: 2021, 2022 4 × 100 m relay: 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships 100 m hurdles: 2017

Personal bests

Awards and honours 2022 Confederation of African Athletics Female Athlete of the Year