Tobi Amusan wins Nigeria’s first gold at 2022 African Athletics Championship

Tobi Amusan has clinched Nigeria’s first gold medal at the ongoing African Athletics Championship in Mauritius.

The 25-year-old dipped 12.57 seconds on Thursday at the Cote d’Or national sports complex in the women 100 meters hurdles to retain the title she won four years ago.

The Nigerian beat Leea Ebony Morrison of Liberia and South Africa’s Marione Fourie who took silver and bronze respectively with 12.77 and 12.93 seconds.

Amusan, who won her first African Championship title in 2018 in Asaba, joins Maria Usifo and Glory Alozie as the third Nigerian to successfully defend the sprint hurdles title.

She became the first Nigerian to win a Diamond League when she finished first in Zurich last year and broke Alozie’s 23-year-old national record to become Africa’s fastest hurdler in the women’s category.

In the women’s high jump, Nigeria’s Temitope Adeshina took the silver medal after leaping 1.79 meters below Rose Yeboah of Ghana, while Yvonne Robson took bronze.

In the men’s 100 meters, Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala pipped South Africa’s Akani Simbine to the gold medal with a split finish of 9.92 seconds. Henricho Bruintjies took bronze at the event.