By Victor Kanayo
Nigerian sprint star, Commonwealth and World record holder in women’s 100m hurdles, Tobi Amusan will have to contend with reigning Olympic champion, Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn and another big fish Kendra Harrison in the Diamond League final which kicks off on Thursday September 8, 2022 in Zurich.
The Puerto Rican defeated Amusan at the Stockholm and Lausanne Diamond League meetings.
She also won in Silesia and Brussels (where she ran a new 12.27 seconds personal lifetime best), setting meeting records at the three most recent meetings.
But the Nigerian began her historic run on the track with the Diamond League trophy last year when she sped to a then 12.42 seconds African record to win the high hurdles in Zurich.
That feat made her the first Nigerian athlete to win a Diamond League discipline at the final and be crowned the Diamond League champion for the year.
The 25 year old has not looked back since that historic run in Zurich last year September.
She started 2022 by successfully defending her African Championships title in Mauritius early June before travelling to Paris to smash her 12.42 seconds African record.
Amusan ran 12.41 seconds at the Diamond league meeting in Paris before storming Edo City in Nigeria to rewrite the 12.63 seconds Nigerian Championships record set in 1997 by Angela Atede in Lagos.
The reigning African champion ran 12.58 seconds to add the championships record to her collections before going to the biggest stage in world athletics to achieve a legendary status.
Amusan produced one of the biggest surprises of the World Championships when she sped to a world record of 12.12 seconds in the semifinals of the 100m hurdles, following it with a wind-assisted 12.06 seconds in the final to win gold.
The Nigerian went on to win the Commonwealth Games title in a Games record of 12.30 seconds and in the process became the first Nigerian track and field athlete to successfully defend an individual title at the Games.
The 100m women’s hurdles line-up will also feature Bitany Anderson, world silver medallist in Eugene in a wind-assisted 12.23, 2019 world champion Nia Ali and world indoor silver medallist Devynne Charlton from the Bahamas.
The winners from the Zurich Diamond League will be awarded a wild-card entry to the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
