Lausanne Diamond League: Amusan loses to Camacho-Quinn in clash of champions
Nigerian still tops qualification ranking for Diamond League final
Reigning Olympic 100m hurdles champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico extended her head-to-head record to eight wins in 13 encounters with the reigning world champion Tobi Amusan after storming home first ahead of the Nigerian at the Athletissima Diamond League meeting Friday in Lausanne.
Camacho-Quinn needed to break the meeting record, running 12.34 seconds to overcome her Nigerian challenger who raced home in second place (12.45 seconds).
Amusan did not have a good start and was unable to catch the flying Puerto Rican who stormed home for her third Diamond League win of the season after triumphing in Rome and Stockholm in June.
For the Nigerian, it was her third second place finish in four appearances. She was second in Doha behind Kendra Harrison and in Stockholm behind Camacho-Quinn while she won in-between the two races in Paris.
The petite, 25 year old Nigerian however still tops the ranking for the event with 29 points, five more than Camacho-Quinn while Anderson Britany of Jamaica (5th in the race) and former world champion, Nia Ali of the USA (4th in the race) have moved above the absent Bahamian, Charlton Devynne (16 points) into third and fourth after increasing their points haul to 18 and 17 respectively.
Amusan and Camacho-Quinn may likely clash in Brussels again in the penultimate round of the money-spinning Diamond League series but both have sealed their qualification for the final at the Weltklasse in Zurich on September 7-8, 2022.
The Nigerian will be looking to successfully defend the Diamond League title and trophy she won last year at the same venue while Camacho-Quinn will be seeking to win the title for the first time as consolation for her failure to add the world title to the Olympic title she won last year in Tokyo.
Amusan will also be seeking to become the second woman to successfully defend a Diamond League 100m hurdles title after USA’s Dawn Harper Nelson who won for fourth straight seasons between 2012 and 2015.
