Oluwatobiloba Amusan, Nigeria’s track golden girl has failed to defend her 100 meter hurdles World title after finishing 6th in the final at the ongoing World Athletics Championship in Budapest on Thursday.
Jamaica’s Danielle Williams won the title in a season-best of 12.43s while Olympic champion, Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn came second in 12.44s and USA Kendra Harrison came third in 12.46s while World champion, Amusan came 6th in 12.62s in her third consecutive final.
At the 2022 World Championship in Eugene, USA, Amusan came first 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.
The world hurdles record holder missed out on the chance of becoming the fourth woman after USA’s duo of Gail Devers and Michelle Perry, and Australian Sally Pearson, to claim at least two gold medals in the women’s 100m Hurdles at the World Championships.
Amusan’s dethronement is a major upset as she had been the dominant force in the 100m hurdles since winning the gold medal at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon.
Speaking with journalists after the race, Amusan apologised to her fans for failing to retain her title and disappointing them.
She also thanked them for their support throughout her trying times, promising to be back stronger next year.
Amusan said: “I just want to say a huge thank you to those who have been supporting me through the ups and downs, Ya’ll stood by me, kept praying for me, God bless you all, I am sorry I might have let you all down, but we will back stronger definitely.
“Yeah, it is a tough one; nobody likes to lose but considering what I have gone through in the past couple of months, I am so grateful that I came out.”