A stunned Amusan broke a world record, and later grabbed a gold for Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan has left everyone stunned in the wake of crushing a world record in the ladies’ 100-meter hurdles in the semifinal rounds at the World Championships this Sunday.
Amusan came in with a record season of 12.12 seconds, beating Kendra Harrison’s 2016 record of 12.20 by 0.8 of a second.
She proceeded to grab gold in the last, however her underlying completing season of 12.06 was cancelled because of strong breeze speeds.
“Wow” tweeted Jamaican Usain Bolt, while 200m Champion and American record holder Noah Lyles tweeted: “12.12 are you kidding me?” Both saluted her on Twitter.
In November 2016, the now-25 year old tweeted: “Unknown now but soon I will be unforgettable, I will persist until I succeed..”
“I was unbelievable when I saw it on the screen after the semis. Yet, it was inevitable,” Amusan told columnists Sunday.
Her success – – Nigeria’s most memorable gold at such an occasion – – was met with euphoria, with accolades pouring in from left and right.
Yet, some communicated suspicion at the race, which saw various contenders run their best times of all time.
“I don’t completely accept that 100h times are right. World record broken by .08! 12 PBs set. 5 National records set,” four-time Olympic gold medalist and BBC reporter Michael Johnson composed on Twitter, adding that Great Britain’s Cindy Sember remarked that she had been running delayed at the hour of her own best and national record.
The semi-finals saw various competitors set their best times.
“All athletes looked stunned,” the previous 200 and 400 meter sprinter said.
“Heat 2 we were first shown winning time of 12.53. Few moments later it shows 12.43. Adjusting somewhere near .01 is typical. .10 isn’t,” he said.
Johnson got quick and furious reaction for his remarks, and later got back to Twitter to explain further, calling attention to that he had anticipated that Amusan would win.
“As a commentator my responsibility is to make remarks. In scrutinizing and questioning the hours of 28 athletes (not 1 athlete) by contemplating whether the timing framework broke down, I was attacked, blamed for bigotry and racism, and for questioning the ability of the athlete I regard so much and anticipated to win. Unacceptable. I move on,” he said.
