Tobi Amusan brought smiles back to Nigerians on July 24, 2022 in Eugene (Northwestern United States). Just days after the disappointing 4th place finish of Nigerian footballers at the Africa Cup of Nations 2022 and a few weeks after the forced withdrawal of the basketball players for the next World Cup, the 25-year-old hurdler won her country's first-ever gold medal in athletics history at the World Championships.

Tobi Amusan won the 100 metres hurdles final in 12 seconds 06, an unratified time due to excessive wind assistance. However, the multiple gold medallist (African Games 2015 and 2019, Commonwealth Games 2018, African Championships 2018) broke the world record in the semi-finals, in 12'12".

A new generation with Ese Brume

"I am so happy and grateful to my coach, she said in an interview with RFI. Coming here [to the United States, Editor's note] was not simple and running and winning here was so hard. But leaving with gold and the world record, that's great. I wasn't necessarily expecting that record. The semi-final was so competitive that I focused on my race and qualifying for the final. But running so fast is really spectacular for me. And in the final, not breaking the record because of the wind doesn't matter. Only gold mattered and I'm delighted to have won!"

Tobi Amusan embodies the new generation of Nigerian athletics with Ese Brume, who won silver in the long jump in Eugene and already has bronze from the 2019 World Championships and the 2021 Olympics. A welcome new generation for a country whose former superstar, Blessing Okagbare, was suspended for ten years for doping.

Comments gathered by Olivier Pron