By Victor Kanayo
Nigerian sprint star and World record holder, Tobi Amusan, has returned to victory path after storming to her first Diamond League win this season in Stockholm on Sunday.
At the end of the race, Amusan clocked 12:52s to win the race on the slippery track.
She defeated Sarah Lavin who clocked a personal best of 12.73s to place second while Pia Skrzyszowska finished third in 12.78s.
The victory for Amusan is coming about a week to the much anticipated World Championship where she is expected to defend her record crown.
2023 Season So Far For Amusan
Before her first win of the season on Sunday, the hurdler had improved steadily in the current athletics season, lowering her time significantly in the space of three weeks.
The Nigerian ran a season’s best of 12.47s and placed third behind Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn and America’s Tia Jones at the Ostrava Golden Spike Meet last week.
She then followed it up with another impressive race to finish second behind Camacho-Quinn at the Lausanne Diamond League last Friday, with same time of 12.47s.
Amusan was again outrun by Camacho-Quinn, who ran 12.40s for victory, while Tia Jones finished third in 12.51s.
Three weeks ago, Amusan posted a time of 12.57s to win at the Racers Grand Prix in Jamaica and had since bettered that time.
Conventional Diamond League Approach
Athletes are awarded points instead of medals for competing in each leg of the Diamond League series.
The top eight athletes in each event at the end of all the legs will qualify for the Diamond League Final, where they will compete for the trophy.
The competition in Stockholm was the seventh event of the Diamond League 2023 season.
The Diamond League 2023 series will wrap up with the two-day final in Eugene, USA, on September 16 and 17.
Looking Ahead
With about a month to another World Championships in Budapest, Amusan will keep striving to lower her time as she embarks on her title defence.
The 2023 World Athletics Championship begins Saturday August 19 and ends Sunday August 27.
