Amusan missing as world stars converge on Karlsruhe for World Indoor Tour Gold opener
Tokyo Olympics 100m hurdles finalist and 2021 Diamond League winner, Tobi Amusan will, for the first time in three years, not be in Karlsruhe, Germany for the World Indoor Tour Gold season opener on Friday.
Amusan, 24, is not listed among the sprint hurdlers that will battle for the top position and the accompanying $3000 prize money.
Jamaican duo of Olympics bronze medal winner Megan Tapper and Danielle Williams as well as home girl Roleder Cindy will be the athletes to watch at the DM-Arena on Friday.
The Nigerian, who has been a part of the race in Karlsruhe for the past two years ran her 7.84 seconds personal best at the German city in 2020.
Her absence in Karlsruhe notwithstanding, the reigning Nigeria sprint hurdles champion will be eyeing Glory Alozie’s 22 year old 7.82 seconds African 60m hurdles indoor record this season after coming very close in 2020.
She will also be hoping to become the second Nigerian, man or woman to win a World Indoor Championship medal over the 60m hurdles distance after Alozie who picked a silver medal in Maebashi, Japan in 1999.
The Commonwealth Games 100m hurdles queen has broken two of the African records held by Alozie in the last three years.
She ran 12.68 seconds in Rabat, Morocco in July 2019 to break the 12.74 Games record set by Alozie in 1999.
Just last year, the petite Amusan broke Alozie’s 12.44 seconds African outdoor record.
She shaved two hundreths of a second off Alozie’s record to run 12.42 seconds on her way to a historic finish at the finals of the Wanda Diamond League in Zurich, Switzerland.
