World Record holder, Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan, has failed to reach 100m Hurdles final at the Paris Olympics after coming third in the first semi-final of the event.
Amusan posted in a time of 12.55 seconds and had to wait to check the outcomes of the two other semi-finals to see if she would scrape through.
But the third semi-final dented her wait as the two athletes who came third and fourth bettered her performance.
Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent crossed the finish line of the third semi-final in a time of 12.44 seconds to finish in third place while France’s Cyrena Samba-Mayela ran 12.52 seconds to finish fourth in same race.
Both runners posted faster times and secured the qualification spots, ending Amusan’s chance of a podium finish in her third appearance at the Olympics.
Amusan busted into the global scene when she set a new record in the women’s 100 meters hurdles at the 2022 world championships in Eugene, Oregon, United States after posting 12.12 seconds, breaking the previous record 12.20 seconds set by American Kendra Harrison in 2016 and becoming the first Nigeria’s world record holder in an athletics event.
With her performance, Nigeria may be without a medal at the games which ends on Sunday.
Nigeria disqualified for 4x400m Relay team
Nigeria has been disqualified for 4x400m men’s relay team for the final at the Paris Olympic Games.
The quartet of Emmanuel Ojeli, Ezekiel Nathaniel, Dubem Amene and Chidi Okezie finished heat 2 with a Season’s Best time of 2 minutes 59.81 seconds
France won the race in 2 minutes 59.53 seconds with Belgium taking the 3rd automatic spot in 2 minutes 59.84 seconds.
It was, however, adjudged that one of the Nigerian runners crossed lanes and that led to the tripping of a South African runner.
The spot won by Nigeria has been given to South Africa.
The Nigeria athletes are looking to emulate the 1984, 2000 and 2004 teams who won bronze, gold and bronze in the Los Angeles, Sydney and Athens editions of the games.
