World Champion Tobi Amusan has continued her title defence at the World Athletics Championship on a fine note by finishing first in Heat 2 of the semi-final with a time of 12.56s to book her place automatically in the final in Budapest.
Despite a slow start, the world hurdles record holder recovered in time, clocking 12.56s to finish ahead of Jamacian Achkara Nungent 12.60s and Dutch Nadine Visser 12.62s.
Tobi Amusan nicked the win on the line as she overturned NCAA Champion Ackera Nugent’s early lead to qualify for her third consecutive World Championships final.
In a fierce race at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary, Amusan competed against the NCAA champion Nugent, World Indoor Champion Cyréna Samba-Mayela, and Dutch Nadine Visser amongst others.
Former World record holder Kendra Harrison won the first semifinal race in 12.33s as Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn took Heat 3 in 12.41s, ahead of Nia Ali in 12.49s which means World record holder Amusan must improve her game to stand any chance of defending her title in Thursday’s final.
Amusan was only cleared to run last week over an alleged breaking of the anti-doping rules but the Nigerian came through as a semi-final winner in 12.56sec.
She was pushed all the way by young Jamaican Ackera Nugent, who enjoyed an early lead before Amusan snatched victory at the finishing line.
