Nigeria's greatest medal hope Amusan coasts into semi finals winning her heat with ease

NIGERIA'S greatest medal hope at the ongoing Paris Olympics Tobi Amusan has qualified for the semi finals of the women's 100 metre hurdles event winning her heat comfortably with a time of 12.49 seconds.

In what has been a torrid games for Nigeria so far, the country has failed to get on the medals table despite there only being four days of competition left to go. World champion Amusan has now become central to Nigeria's medals hopes in Paris, ahead of a small group of other elite athletes like long jumper Ese Brume and teenage 400 meter runner Samuel Ogazi.

This morning, Amusan, 27, calmed Nigerian nerves a bit, leading a pack of eight athletes homes in her heat, followed by Alaysha Johnson of the US with a time of 12.61 and Jamaica’s Janeek Brown, who also qualified for the semi finals with a time of 12.84 seconds. These semi-finals will hold on Friday, August 9, while the final is slated for the penultimate day of the athletics event, Saturday, August 10.

Amusan is certainly among the favourites for the gold medal but it will not be easy,  as she has to contend with a strong field that includes the Bahamas’ Devynne Charlton, Alaysha Johnson of the US, Danielle Williams of Jamaica and reigning Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico. However, Amusan is in relatively good form, running a season’s best and then world lead of 12.40 seconds at the Jamaican Athletics Invitational in Kingston in May.

Before then, she had set the indoor record for the African 60m hurdles twice in January and February. In March, she won her third consecutive African Games title in Ghana and then anchored the Nigerian women’s 4x100m team to gold, as well as in the African Championships in Cameroon three months later.

Amusan, a three-time Diamond League winner, two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, two-time African champion and three-time African Games gold medallist, has participated in two Olympic Games in 2016 and 2020. She will be hoping to make it third time lucky with a French gold on Friday.