By Ayobami Okerinde
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan is set to begin her title defence at the World Athletics Championship on Tuesday (today) at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary.
The 100m hurdles champion and world record holder will be competing in Heat 5 alongside Ebony Morrison, Michelle Jenneke, Maayke Tjin-a-lim, Natalia Christofi, Nika Glojnaric, and Maayke Tjin-a-lim.
The 26-year-old started her campaign at the 2022 World Championship in Eugene, USA, with a 12.40 (African record) before setting a new world record of 12.12 to smash the 12.20 world record set by Kendra Harrison in 2016.
There were initial fears that Amusan would not defend her title at the championship after she was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for missing three out-of-competition drug tests.
However, a disciplinary panel cleared Amusan of any wrongdoing.
“A panel of the Disciplinary Tribunal, by majority decision, has today (Thursday) found that Tobi Amusan has not committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) of three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period,” the statement read.
Amusan is one of Team Nigeria’s medal hopefuls at the championship after a tough start as Ese Brume finished fourth in the women’s long jump event on Sunday.
The race is expected to start at 6:12 p.m. (Nigerian time).
