World Champion Tobi Amusan has failed to defend her World title after finishing 6th in the final at the ongoing World Athletics Championship in Budapest on Thursday.
Jamaica’s Danielle Williams won the title in a season-best of 12.43s while Olympic champion, Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn came second in 12.44s and USA Kendra Harrison came third in 12.46s while World champion, Amusan came 6th in 12.62s in her third consecutive final.
At the 2022 World Championship in Eugene, USA, Amusan came first with a 12.40 (African record) before setting a new world record of 12.12 to smash the 12.20 world record set by Kendra Harrison in 2016.
The world hurdles record holder missed out on the chance of becoming the fourth woman after USA’s duo of Gail Devers and Michelle Perry, and Australian Sally Pearson, to claim at least two gold medals in the women’s 100m Hurdles at the World Championships.
It was a third consecutive final for the Nigerian athlete who competed against Olympic champion, Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji, Bahamas’ Devynne Charlton, the duo of Kendra Harrison and Nia Ali from the United States of America, and the Jamaican duo of Ackera Nugent and Danielle Williams at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary.
Amusan, who despite the loss retains her world record, qualified for the final on Wednesday by clocking 12.56s to finish ahead of Jamaican Achkara Nugent’s 12.60s after she started her title defence by clocking12.48s (0.4) to win the fifth heat of the women’s 100mH on Tuesday.
Recall that Amusan was cleared last week by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after fears had emerged that the sprint champion would not be cleared in time to defend her title at the championship in Budapest.
However, a disciplinary panel cleared Amusan of any wrongdoing two days before the commencement of the championship.
“A panel of the Disciplinary Tribunal, by majority decision, has today (Thursday) found that Tobi Amusan has not committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) of three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period,” the statement read.
Amusan was one of Nigeria’s medal hopefuls at the championship after a tough start as Ese Brume finished fourth in the women’s long jump event on Sunday.
A loss in the final for Amusan who looked out of form after a turbulent preparation period means that as it stands, Team Nigeria is yet to record a medal on Day 6 of the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
Amusan was a huge medal hopeful as the world hurdles champion enjoyed a superb run of form and set the current world record for the women’s 100m hurdles of 12.12 seconds at last year’s World Athletics Championships in Oregon and a world title that followed in a record time of 12.06.
She also retained her Commonwealth Games title with a new Games’ record of 12.30s and defended her Diamond League title in a record-breaking season that saw her set impressive records and win the Nigerian, African, Commonwealth, World, and Diamond League titles.
