Amusan, Camacho-Quinn’s rivalry lights up Stade de France

One is an Olympic record holder, while the other holds the world record in women’s 100 metres hurdles.

Both, Tobi Amusan and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, carry their countries’ hopes at the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympic Games; their compatriots see in them, the embodiment of everything that should come good at the Games.

The world’s attention, yesterday, was on the duo during the 100m women’s hurdles preliminaries, where the stars won their respective heats easily.

Running in Heat 1, Amusan won the race at a time of 12.49 seconds, which is far from the 12.12 seconds she achieved at the World Championships in Oregon, USA, in 2022.

In Heat 2, Camacho-Quinn braced the tape in 12.42 seconds, which, again, is way below the 12.26 seconds Olympic record that she holds.

The reason for such times returned by the world’s champions at these Games, many say, is that they are keeping their best for the gold medal race. The rivals have been behaving like two boxers waiting for the right time to unleash the sucker punch on the other.

Camacho-Quinn and Amusan have been going about their duties as if the other doesn’t exist. Like a lioness looking for the right time to answer the question of who is the queen of the sprint hurdles, these luminaries bestrode the preliminary round of the 100m hurdles as if they want to let the world know that they are in charge.
But a champion must emerge at the Games.

Amusan and Camacho-Quinn have been in the supremacy battle for a while now, and it doesn’t feel like ending anytime soon.

If they qualify for the final of the 100-meter hurdles, it will be the 18th time they will be squaring up on the big stage, including the Diamond League, World Championships, and the Olympic Games.

Their rivalry started in their days (2016) as students in the United States, where Amusan represented the University of Texas, El Paso, and Camacho-Quinn ran for the University of Kentucky. Eight years later, they are still at it, fighting for an Olympic gold medal – a crown that Camacho-Quinn currently holds.

On paper, apart from the Olympic title, Amusan has always won crucial races, including the Diamond trophy she took for two consecutive seasons. But as is the case with track and field, most times past results do not matter when world-class rivals line up against each other. The better-tuned runner always wins on the day.

And so it is expected to be when Amusan and Camacho-Quinn line up for the title race on August 10.

First, though, they must navigate the semifinals successfully for that epic race to happen.