Tobi Amusan strolled to victory in the women’s 100m hurdles heat at the ongoing World Athletics Championship in Tokyo.
Amusan on Sunday posted a time of 12.53s to win the heat ahead of Bahamas’ Devynne Charlton and Italy’s Elena Carraro, who finished second and third, respectively.
The world record holder began her quest for gold in the hurdles event on a good note, taking charge of the track over the distance despite posting the fifth-best reaction time to the starting gun.
The Ogun state indigene has been placed in Heat 2 of the semi-final lineup, where she will compete against the Netherlands’ Nadine Visser, the third-ranked 100m women’s hurdler. Amusan is ranked ninth in the world.
The top two athletes from each of the three heats will advance to the final, alongside two athletes with the best times across the three semi-finals.
Elsewhere, Oyesade Olatoye failed to advance to the final of the hammer throw event in Sunday morning’s session of the championship.
The US-born athlete who switched allegiance to Nigeria in 2019 posted 68.82m with her third attempt, improving on a 66.78m throw from her first throw.
The throw would ultimately be insufficient as she finished 10th in category A of the qualification round to end her participation.
Amusan is Nigeria’s last female representative at the championships after Olatoye’s elimination.
