Reigning World 100m hurdles champion and record holder, Tobi Amusan will start her 2023 European outdoor campaign on Tuesday in Ostrava, Czech Republic with a titanic battle for supremacy between her and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, the Tokyo Olympics champion.
The Nigerian and the Puerto Rican have both been confirmed for the event in which the reigning Olympic champion is the defending champion as it were after running 12.56 last year to win at the 61st edition of the event.
Also confirmed for the race are Tia Jones, the 2018 World U20 champion who holds a personal best of 12.38 and 2019 World champion, Nia Ali.
The attention will however be on Amusan and Camacho-Quinn who have taken their NCAA rivalry to the international stage.
The Puerto Rican ran 12.54 in 2016 to beat the Nigerian (12.79) to the NCAA 100m hurdles title in Eugene, Oregon while Amusan extracted her pound of flesh a year later also in Eugene, winning by the narrowest of margins (12.57 to 12.58).
Since then, the two have met 13 more times with Camacho-Quinn having a 9-6 head to head lead over the reigning world champion.
At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Camacho-Quinn sped home first in 12.37 while Amusan came in fourth in 12.60. The Nigerian however had the better of the Puerto Rican at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, running a wind-aided 12.06 to win the gold with the 26 year old Puerto Rican third in 12.23.
Amusan (12.29) would triumph again at the Diamond League final in Zurich while Camacho-Quinn (12.49) placed fourth.
Like she did last year. the Puerto Rican is flying again in the circuit this term with the 12.31 she ran at the end of May the fastest in the world so far.
Apart from the supremacy battle, what is also at stake is the 12.56 meeting record which Camacho-Quinn missed by one hundreth of a second last year.