World 100m hurdles record holder, Tobi Amusan, in the early hours of Monday (Sunday in Oregon), won the women’s 100m hurdles gold at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
She did it by going faster than the 12.12s world record time she ran in the semi-finals, but her 12.06s in the final wasn’t recognized as a world record owing to the over 2m/s wind speed.
Amusan had fired on to a world record of 12.12s in the semi-finals but destroyed that mark with a superb 12.06s to become the first Nigerian to win gold in the history of the World Athletics Championships.
Nigeria had won a total of nine medals, comprising four silver and five bronze before Amusan engulfed a strong field in the final.
Amusan, who was fourth at the Tokyo Olympics and the last worlds in 2019, clocked 12.12 seconds at Hayward Field, an hour and 50 minutes before she contests the final.
She had earlier taken eight-hundredths of a second off American Keni Harrison‘s world record from 2016. Amusan’s previous personal best before the semi-final was 12.40, set in the first round on Saturday in Oregon.
“I wanted to get out and go,” Amusan said, according to World Athletics. “I did what I had to do. Now I’m looking forward to the finals.”
