World Athletics Ultimate Championships: Amusan Avoids Russell in Budapest Semis, World Record Revenge Awaits
Tobi Amusan and her biggest rival this season, Masai Russell, have been drawn in separate semifinals of the women’s 100m hurdles at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Amusan will compete in the second semifinal on Friday, September 11, starting from lane seven, with Jamaica’s two-time world champion Danielle Williams in lane six and compatriot Demisha Roswell in lane eight.
The Nigerian enters the competition as the fastest athlete in her semifinal both this season and on the all-time list, having clocked 12.23 seconds in 2026 and holding the African and former world record of 12.12.
She will need to finish among the first four in the eight-woman semifinal to qualify for the final, which is scheduled just over an hour after her race.
Amusan’s immediate target, however, will be to overcome a formidable field that also includes Olympic finalist Devynne Charlton, Poland’s Pia Skrzyszowska and Americans Alia Armstrong and Kendra Harrison.
Russell, who has dominated her four meetings with Amusan this season, will line up in the first semifinal.
The Olympic champion produced the biggest shock of the hurdles season in Zurich last month when she ran 12.09 seconds to break Amusan’s four-year-old world record of 12.12.
The performance is still pending ratification but stands as the world-leading mark for the season.
Russell will face a strong field in the first semifinal, including Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent and Megan Simmonds, Dutch star Nadine Visser and Americans Alaysha Johnson and Rayniah Jones.
The draw means Amusan and Russell can only meet again in the final, setting up the possibility of a sixth head-to-head clash between the two hurdlers this season.
Russell has won all five of their meetings in 2026, including the Zurich race in which she took Amusan’s world record.
For Amusan, reaching the final would provide another opportunity to settle the score with the Olympic champion and potentially reclaim the world record.
Beyond the prestige of the inaugural Ultimate Championships title, the winner of each individual event in Budapest will collect $150,000, making the stakes even higher for Amusan as she begins her campaign on Friday.
The first four athletes in each semifinal will qualify for the final, where Amusan could face Russell once again in what would be the most anticipated women’s hurdles showdown of the championships.
