By Adegboyega Adeleye
World champion, Tobi Amusan has opened her 2023 season on an impressive note, by clinching victory at the Auburn Tiger Track Classics.
The 25-year-old clocked a time of 23.38s to win the women’s 200m at ahead of University of Auburn’s duo Chante Clinkscale in 23.56s and Ashantae Harvey in 24.46s.
The hurdles world record(WR) holder, Amusan bagged the win on a rainy and wet day in Auburn.
The race was her first competitive appearance since September 2022 when she defended her 100m Hurdles title in stellar fashion– with a meeting record of 12.29secs to cap off her historic season. She stayed out of competition in the indoor season.
In recent years, Amusan has enjoyed impressive success in the hurdles but she is also a force to reckon with in the 100m and 200m sprint events. This is proven by her personal best times of 11.11s and 22.60s, respectively.
It is a great start to the year for Amusan who enjoyed a superb and fine run of form last year including the 12.12s World record she set in Oregon and a World title that followed.
She also retained her Commonwealth Games title with a new Games’ record of 12.30s and defended her Diamond League title in a record-breaking season that saw her set impressive records and win the Nigerian, African, Commonwealth, World, and Diamond League titles.
The win will surely spur her to achieve greatly as she prepares for more competitions, especially in her signature event– the 100m Hurdles.
The world champion will hope to continue her stellar form this year by retaining her world title in Budapest and defending her Diamond league title for a third successive year.
Source: Vanguard
