As we continue to reflect on the numbing 12.12 seconds world 100m hurdles record performance by Tobi Amusan at the World Athletics Championships 2022 on Sunday (24), here are some interesting stats about the Nigerian progression in the event, as well as the advancement of the world record.
Amusan, who has improved every season since 2014 when she ran 13.89, entered the world championships in Eugene, Oregon, as a very strong medal contender, but finished with an even greater reward after smashing the world record in the semi-finals before running away with the gold medal in the final to stun the large crowd at Hayward Field on the last night of competition.
Who is Tobi Amusan coach?
The 25-year-old is coached by Jamaica’s Lacena Golding-Clarke, the Jamaican three-time Olympian and the 2002 Commonwealth Games 100m hurdles champion.
Amusan “only got into hurdling through a quirk of fate” according to World Athletics, but she recognized her gift in the early stages, which helped to fend off the struggles she faced during the developmental stages of her career.
At the World Athletics Championships 2022, the All Africa Games champion ran 12.40 seconds in the heats to set an African record on Saturday, before returning the following day to set the world record in the semi-finals. Read more: Tobi Amusan sets stunning 12.12 secs 100m hurdles world record
Amusan returned just under two hours later to run a breathtaking 12.06 seconds -although supported by a +2.5 m/s following wind – to win her first global title after finishing fourth at the world championships in Doha in 2019 and repeated that finish at the Olympic Games in Tokyo last summer.
Tobi Amusan 100m hurdles progression
STATS Amusan’s progression
2014: 13.89
2015: 13.11
2016: 12.83
2017: 12.57
2018: 12.68
2019: 12.48
2021: 12.42
2022: 12.12
World 100m hurdles all-time top 10
12.12 Tobi Amusan (NGR) Eugene 2022
12.20 Kendra Harrison (USA) London 2016
12.21 Yordanka Donkova (BUL) Stara Zagora 1988
12.25 Ginka Zagorcheva (BUL) Drama 1987
12.26 Lyudmila Zarozhilenko (RUS) Seville 1992
12.26 Brianna McNeal (USA) Des Moines 2013
12.26 Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR) Tokyo 2021
12.28 Sally Pearson (AUS) Daegu 2011
12.31 Britany Anderson (JAM) Eugene 2022
12.32 Danielle Williams (JAM) London 2019
World 100m hurdles record progression
12.59 Anneliese Ehrhardt (GDR) Munich 1972
12.3h Anneliese Ehrhardt (GDR) Dresden 1973
12.48 Grazyna Rabsztyn (POL) Furth 1978
12.36 Grazyna Rabsztyn (POL) Warsaw 1980
12.35 Yordanka Donkova (BUL) Cologne 1986
12.29 Yordanka Donkova (BUL) Cologne 1986
12.26 Yordanka Donkova (BUL) Ljubljana 1986
12.25 Ginka Zagorcheva (BUL) Drama 1987
12.21 Yordanka Donkova (BUL) Stara Zagora 1988
12.20 Kendra Harrison (USA) London 2016
12.12 Tobi Amusan (NGR) Eugene 2022
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