Tobi Amusan: A Continent’s Best

She may have missed out of the Women’s World Athlete of the Year Awards-coming third behind American Sydney McLaughlin and Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce respectively. Tobi Amusan however rules Africa by a mile as the world record holder on Tuesday was named Africa’s Best Female Athlete

Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan was on Tuesday named Africa’s Best Female Athlete for the Year 2022 ahead of Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon and Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey, who are both world champions in the 1500m and 1000m were ranked second and third respectively behind Amusan

The latest honour was conferred on Amusan by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) on Tuesday.

Winner at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham where she set a record and also the World Championships in Oregon, where she set a new World Record of 12.12s in the Hurdles event, Amusan has been far above her contemporaries this year.

She also won the Diamond League trophy for the second successive season, highlighting her rating as one of the world’s best and Africa’s undisputed number one at the moment.

Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon and Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey who are both world champions in the 1500m and 1000m were ranked second and third respectively behind Amusan who has enjoyed a phenomenal year.

Amusan will be proud of her unprecedented feats in the period under review despite failing to claim the global accolade of the World female Athlete of the year won by America’s Sydney McLaughlin.

Amusan started 2022 with a successful defence of her African Championships title in Mauritius in early June.

Thereafter she was off to Paris to improve on her 12.42 seconds African record as she ran 12.41 seconds at the Diamond League meeting in Paris.

In Benin City, Edo State, at the All-Nigerian Championships, Amusan effortlessly erased the 12.63 seconds record set in 1997 by Angela Atede as she won another national title for herself, having run an impressive 12.58 seconds.

The biggest moment for Amusan was in Eugene, Oregon where she produced one of the biggest surprises of the World Championships.

The Nigerian superstar sped to a word record 12.12 seconds in the semifinals of the 100m hurdles, following it with a wind-assisted 12.06 seconds in the final to win gold.

Prior to the World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year for 2022 season award ceremony, it looked promising for Amusan who broke the World Record in the women’s 100m hurdles with a time of 12.12s at the World Championships in Oregon, successfully defended her Commonwealth Games title setting a new Games Record of 12.30s, retained her Diamond League title clocking a Meeting Record and won the African title.

Doing this, she became the first Nigerian and African female athlete to achieve these feats, which put her in a solid contention for the prestigious award.

However, it was McLaughlin who took the night having had a fantastic season herself. The American broke the 400m hurdles World Record on two occasions and won two gold medals at the World Championships in Oregon.

The two-time Olympics and three-time World 400m hurdles champion first broke the World Record in June at the USA World Championships trials in Eugene, running an outstanding 51.41s.

Barely a month later, the 23-year-old ran an incredible 50.68s to successfully retain her World title, breaking the World Record for the second time this year. Thereafter, she helped the USA 4x400m relay team secure a third consecutive World title, with a blazing split time of 47.91s.

Amusan however took solace in the fact that she’s the first Nigerian athlete in history to be amongst the five finalist for the distinguished award, and eventually finish as second runner-up. Meanwhile, Amusan’s bid for a third consecutive Diamond League title will begin in May, next year after she successfully retained her Diamond League title in 2022.

Her quest for a third consecutive Diamond League title will begin at the event’s season opener in Doha, Qatar, on May 5, 2023, as the World Athletics has released the 2023 provisional calendar.

The two-time Diamond League Champion may be competing in Doha if the meeting organisers include the 100m Hurdles among the events to be competed for at the meet for the second year running.

Amusan started her Diamond League campaign at the same meet this year, finishing a close second behind former World Record holder Keni Harrison, who clocked a wind-aided time of 12.43s, ahead of the Nigerians’ 12.44s.

However, Amusan turned it around by gathering enough points during the season, which earned her a spot in the final leg in Zurich, where the newly crowned World Champion and record holder successfully retained her Diamond League title with a new Meeting Record of 12.29s.

Doing this, she became the first Nigerian athlete in history to win two Diamond League titles, her first win in 2021 when she sped to a then African Record of 12.42s, to become the first Nigerian in the Diamond League era to win a trophy.

The 2023 provisional Diamond League calendar, which for the first time includes 15 host cities across 12 countries and four continents, was released by the World Athletics and the final scheduled to hold outside Europe for the first time in 14 years.

The final is scheduled for Eugene, Oregon, at the Prefontaine Classic, where Amusan will seek to be among the 32 champions for the third time in a row.

Meanwhile, Amusan has been ranked the fifth best female athlete in 2022, according to World Athletics.

The World Athletics ranked each athlete according to the points they amassed from their performances during the season, using the scoring tables of athletics.

The 25-year-old hurdler had a fantastic year and became the first Nigerian world champion in an athletics event when she won the 2022 World Championships 100m hurdles gold medal, setting the current world record of 12.12 seconds in the semifinal, followed up by a 12.06s in the final.

She also won gold again at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, before retaining her Diamond League Trophy in Zurich in a new meet record of 12.29s.

The World Athletics recently ratified Amusan’s women’s world 100m hurdles record set at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon, the United States.

Jamaica’s sprints legend, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, tops the list, followed by her compatriot, Sharicka Jackson. Venezuela’s Triple Jump queen, Yulimar Rojas, occupies the third position, and USA’s Sydney McLaughlin in fourth.