Sports:
Tobi Amusan Finishes Second As Russell Wins Inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship
Netherlands’ Nadine Visser completed the podium in 12.39 seconds.
By Tom Jones Usen
Amusan
FILE PHOTO: Tobi Amusan. Facebook/Tobi Amusan
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan finished second in the women’s 100m hurdles at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest on Friday.
Amusan clocked 12.34 seconds to claim the silver medal, finishing behind United States Olympic champion Masai Russell, who won the title in 12.22 seconds.
Netherlands’ Nadine Visser completed the podium in 12.39 seconds.
Amusan, the former world record holder in the event, was unable to reclaim the top spot from Russell, who broke her world record with a time of 12.09 seconds at the Zurich Diamond League in August.
Russell entered the Budapest final as the favourite after her record-breaking performance in Zurich and continued her impressive 2026 campaign with another victory.
The American maintained her unbeaten run this year, adding the Ultimate Championship title to her Diamond League Final triumph in Brussels last week.
Reflecting on her performance after the race, Amusan said she approached the championship determined to give everything she had after what she described as a challenging period during the season.
“First, God is good,” Amusan said.
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“What started off as an amazing season, you know, in between I had some nipping here and there. You know, I’m not a robot. You know, the body did shut down at a point.”
The hurdler said she gradually regained her momentum by taking each race at a time before arriving in Budapest with a determined mindset.
“Coming into this championship, my mindset going to the line was, ‘We die here.’ I just kept telling myself I have to give it my all,” she said.
Amusan said she was determined to put everything into the race regardless of the eventual outcome.
“All I knew was, look, I did it. That’s all I knew. And the second I saw the second-place finish, I was like, look, I can’t complain. God is good,” she said.
Her silver medal comes after a difficult few weeks for the former world record holder. Amusan finished third at the Commonwealth Games and later saw her 100m hurdles world record broken by Russell before finishing fourth at the Diamond League Final.
She admitted that the period had been emotionally difficult but credited her family, mentor, coach and boyfriend for helping her regain confidence.
“I’m not going to lie. It was very rough,” Amusan said.
“I mean, to my family, to my mentor, to my coach, to my boyfriend. That’s brought life back into me.”
According to her, words of encouragement from those around her helped her put the setbacks behind her and focus on the race in Budapest.
“This morning it was all about put the past behind you and just go for it. And those few sentences that I got here and there got me to this finish line today,” she said.
Amusan said her second-place finish, together with her Commonwealth medal, represented a positive response to the setbacks she had experienced.
“With the Commonwealth medal, it is a statement,” she said.
On the growing competitiveness in the women’s 100m hurdles, Amusan described the event as increasingly difficult, warning that the battle among the leading hurdlers will become even more intense.
“Honestly, in that event, I think I would be the sleeping lion,” she said.
“I think the women’s hurdles is just getting scarier every damn year. Next year, I do not know what’s going to happen. But it’s going to be bloody.”
