Amusan Set To Become First Nigerian To Be Nominated For World Athletics Athlete Of The Year Award

Reigning African, Commonwealth and World 100m hurdles champion and record holder, Tobi Amusan looks set to become the first Nigerian athlete to be nominated for World Athletics’ Women’s Athlete of the year award.

This year’s standouts in athletics will be celebrated over the next couple of months with the announcement for the women’s and men’s Athlete of the Year nominees set to be made between October 12 and 13.

Amusan scorched to a 12.12s world record at the semifinal stage of the World Athletics Championships before storming home first in the final to become the first Nigerian to be crowned a world champion.

The 25 year old is also one of only three women who set new world best marks/times in their respective event.

One of the other two is 400m barrier runner, Sydney McLaughlin who raced home to gold in a 50.68s world record time in Oregon.

The second is Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas whose 15.74m effort at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March fetched her the gold medal and a new world record.

The three athletes tower above other women in 2022 as they were also crowned world champions.

The duo of Amusan and Rojas also emerged Diamond League champions in the 100m hurdles and triple jump respectively.

Rojas added the World Indoor title in Belgrade to her rich collections this year.

Also looking likely to be added will be sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the world 100m champion who also added the Diamond League title to her collections in addition to running inside 10.70 seconds seven times.

The 35 year old started the season with a 10.67 seconds performance at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya in March and ended with a 10.65 seconds run at the Diamond League final in Zurich last month.