Athletics federation congratulates Amusan on new 100m hurdles African record

President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Tonobok Okowa has hailed athlete Oluwatobiloba Amusan after she set a new African record in 100m hurdles at the weekend.

Okowa sais the sprinter’s record setting at the Diamond League meeting in Paris on Saturday night has given Nigeria hope of challenging for a first ever gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon next month.

The 25-year-old star athlete finished strongly in the race to win in 12.41 seconds, 0.02 better than her previous 12.42 seconds best which she ran last year to win the historic 100m hurdles at the Diamond League final in Zurich.

“Congratulations to Tobi who has continued to deliver for Nigeria at the top level of track and field in the world,” said Okowa.

Okowa added that A musan, who came fourth both at the Tokyo Olympics last year and at the World Athletics Championships in Doha in 2019, looks capable of claiming her first global medal in Oregon as well as retain the Commonwealth Games title she won in 2018.

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“Nigeria’s national anthem is yet to be sung at the flagship event of World Athletics, the World Championships and Tobi Amusan now looks ready to join Ese Brume, our sprinters and the relay teams in the bid to get Nigeria to the podium as world champion.

“Ese (Brume) won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year. It was the first time since 2008 that Nigeria won a track and field medal at the quadrennial games. Tobi Amusan made history last year as the first Nigerian to win a Diamond League title and this year Ese got a silver in the long jump at the World Indoor championship, our first since Olusoji Fasuba won the 60m gold in Valencia, Spain in 2008,” added Okowa in the statement.

The AFN president believes Nigeria is now taking her rightful place in global athletics and is confident the country’s rising profile will translate to podium appearances at global athletics championships and games.

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