Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan made a confident start to her campaign at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, easing through her 100m hurdles heat on Sunday.
The world record holder clocked 12.53 seconds to finish first, comfortably ahead of Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas and Italy’s Elena Carraro, who placed second and third.
Despite recording only the fifth-best reaction to the starter’s gun, Amusan quickly took control of the race and never looked back, underlining her status as one of the event’s biggest threats.
The Ogun State-born athlete will line up in Heat 2 of the semi-finals, where she faces a tough challenge from Dutch hurdler Nadine Visser, ranked third in the world. Amusan currently holds the ninth spot in the global rankings.
According to the championship format, the first two finishers in each of the three semi-final races will qualify for the final, along with the next two fastest across all heats.
Meanwhile, fellow Nigerian Oyesade Olatoye exited the competition after failing to reach the final of the women’s hammer throw. The US-born athlete, who switched allegiance to Nigeria in 2019, managed a best effort of 68.82m with her third attempt, placing 10th in Group A of the qualification round. Her earlier throws measured 66.78m.
With Olatoye’s elimination, Amusan now remains Nigeria’s sole female contender at the championships.
AFN dismisses Amusan’s claims of poor quality kits
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has refuted allegations by world record holder Tobi Amusan that Nigerian athletes were handed poor-quality kits for the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo.
In a video posted online, Amusan lamented the treatment of Nigerian athletes compared to their counterparts from other nations. According to her, while other countries presented athletes with neatly packed gear in branded suitcases, Nigerians received theirs in nylon bags with only a few items.
“This country will steadily embarrass you. Una come say make people nor switch allegiance? Una never ready!” Amusan said in frustration. She added that the competition gear provided was substandard, claiming athletes received just two outfits that peeled when soaked with sweat.
AFN President Tonobok Okowa swiftly denied the allegations, stressing that athletes were provided with the full complement of kits through Hiracer, a global sportswear company sponsoring 20 nations at the championships. He argued that Amusan had displayed only part of her allocation.
“There is nothing wrong with those kits. Tobi Amusan only brought out one pack out of the pack that she was given. The items came in batches, so they were told that the following day they would receive the rest of the kits. She just brought out only that one kit and displayed it to the world,” Okowa explained.
