Tobi Amusan Dethroned as Sprint Hurdles World Record Holder

Duro Ikhazuagbe

Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan has been dethroned as the world record holder in the women’s 100m hurdles event at the final regular-season Wanda Diamond League Meeting of the year in Zurich last night.

American sprint hurdler, Masai Russell, stopped the clock at 12.09sec in the event in Zurich, to take 0.03 off the previous world record of 12.12secs set by Amusan at the World Athletics Championship in Eugene, USA in 2022.

Russell who won the Olympic gold in the event in Paris two years ago, had already come close to the world record twice this year, and in Zurich she finally took it down. Producing a flawless run over the barriers.

Amusan who is second in the overall standing of the 100m hurdles event, placed second behind Russell in 12.23secs. European champion, Nadine Visser, finished third in a season’s best time of 12.34secs.

Russell’s new world record, though to be ratified by World Athletics, is second of such records to tumble in Zurich yesterday.

Brazilian Alison dos Santos joined Russell in producing the headline performances of an extraordinary night at the Weltklasse meeting in Zurich.

Dos Santos opened the record-breaking sequence with a stunning 45.80 in the men’s 400m hurdles.

Dos Santos, the 2022 world champion, made up the stagger on multiple global champion Karsten Warholm by halfway, then continued to forge ahead. The Brazilian charged through the line in 45.80, taking 0.14 off the world record set by Warholm at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021.

Warholm finished a distant second in 46.69 – still one of the fastest times in history – but this was Dos Santos’ night, and one of the defining performances of the season.

In the women’s 100m, A photo-finish was needed to separate Olympic champion Julien Alfred and world champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden.

Both ladies clocked 10.70secs but Alfred took victory by five thousandths of a second in a national record. It was just the second time in history that two women had run 10.70secs or faster in the same race.

US sprinter Kenny Bednarek looked a class apart in the men’s 200m, striding clear to victory in a world-leading 19.62. Bednarek finished just 0.05 shy of his PB and 0.20 ahead of South Africa’s Sinesipho Dambile.