Tobi Amusan begins medal hunt today
07 August 2024 |
3:45 am
• After Barcelona ‘92, Onwuzurike seeks to end Nigeria’s wait for 200m final Women’s 100m hurdles world record holder, Tobiloba Amusan, will begin her bid to add an Olympic title to the world title that she won two years ago in Oregon, USA, in lane nine of the first heat of the first round as…
• After Barcelona ‘92, Onwuzurike seeks to end Nigeria’s wait for 200m final
Women’s 100m hurdles world record holder, Tobiloba Amusan, will begin her bid to add an Olympic title to the world title that she won two years ago in Oregon, USA, in lane nine of the first heat of the first round as the 100m hurdles begin today at the Stade de France in Paris, France.
Amusan, with a 12.40 personal season’s best has been drawn to race against USA’s Alaysha Johnson, who holds a lifetime and personal season’s best of 12.31 and who she has beaten seven times in 10 head-to-head clashes.
The Nigerian will also go head to head with Ecuadorian, Maribel Vanessa Caicedo, who broke 12.50 seconds (12.49) for the first time this year, as well as, Janeek Brown of Jamaica, who holds a 12.40 lifetime best but has done 12.61 this year for one of the three automatic tickets on offer in the heat.
Amusan came fourth in her first Olympic final in the event three years ago in Tokyo and will be aiming to go three steps higher and claim the gold to make history as the first Nigerian to become world and Olympic champion.
A medal for Amusan will make her the second Nigerian to achieve that feat after Glory Alozie’s silver at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Meanwhile, United States-based sprinter, Udodi Onwuzurike, made the most of the second chance provided by the repechage round to run into the semifinal round of the 200m at the Games, yesterday.
And today, the focus of many Nigerians will be on the young Onwuzurike to make history at the Stade de Paris. To realise his dream, he would need to run faster than his 20.13 personal season’s best to become the first Nigerian in 32 years to run in the final of the event.
Olapade Adeniken remains the only Nigerian man to have done that at the Barcelona ‘92 Olympics. Onwuzurike, who came to Benin City for the Nigeria Olympics trials in June, but could not compete as he was recovering from an injury, will be eager to thread where Nigerian greats like Francis Obikwelu and Divine Oduduru stopped.
He has been given what looks like a kind draw as he will be battling for one of the two automatic tickets with USA’s Erriyon Knighton, who is just one of the only two athletes to have broken 20 seconds in their heat.
He also has a Zimbabwean, Tapiwanashe Makarawu, who ran 19.93 in April, in Lubbock, Texas. Also in the group is African Athletics Championships’ double sprint king, Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh, who has done 20.06secs this year.
Onwuzurike is faster this year than the remaining four athletes in the group. Onwuzurike broke into the limelight in 2021 in Nairobi, Kenya where he represented Nigeria for the first time, winning the 200m gold medal at the World U-20 Championships.
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