World Record holder and Nigeria’s Athletics pride, Tobi Amusan has expressed her delight to being nominated for the prestigious World Athlethe of the Year award.

Amusan opened her 2022 season by winning the 100m hurdles at the Diamond League event in Paris with a time of 12.41s, breaking the African record by 0.01s. 

She proceeded to win gold in the 100m hurdles at the 2022 African Championships in Mauritius, defending her title with a time of 12.57s. She also competed in the women’s 4×100m relay and won gold.

At the 2022 Commonwealth games, Amusan successfully defended her title, winning her second consecutive gold medal in the 100m hurdles. She set a new Games record of 12.30s.

She also helped power Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay team to a gold medal. She competed in the 100m hurdles at the Lausanne Diamond Race meet, finishing second with a time of 12.60s, behind Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn.

At the World Athletic Championships, she set a new world record of 12.12s in the semifinal.

In the final she won Gold in a colorful manner, running 12.06s becoming the first Nigerian world champion at the World Athletics Championships.

The 25-year-old was delighted to be nominated by the World Athletics Body for their highest honour.

“Through the grace of God, I have achieved so many ‘firsts by a Nigerian’ and this is yet another one. I’m so honoured to be selected as a World Athlete of the Year Nominee and the first Nigerian ever to reach this height,” Amusan wrote on her Facebook wall.

“I have twice been named Nigerian Athlete of the Year by the Athletic Heat platform but this is my first international nomination and I want us to win it!”

Meanwhile, a three-way voting process will determine the finalists.
The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the World Athletics social media platforms.

Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube; a ‘like’ on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube or a retweet on Twitter will count as one vote.

The World Athletics Council’s vote will count for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes will each count for 25% of the final result.

Okowa canvasses for support

AFN President, Tonobok Okowa believes Amusan believes Tobi Amusan should win the prestigious award and has now openly solicited for support from Nigerians to vote for our golden Athlete.

“2022 has been a very successful year for Nigerian athletes and Tobi is the icing on the cake of the incredible season we have had,” says Okowa who has superintended over a number of firsts since he took over as the head of the governing body for athletics in Nigeria


“The fact that Tobi was nominated is a positive development for us as a federation and a nation as no Nigerian athlete has ever made it to this level.

“Now we need to go a step further by playing our part to see that our darling Tobi is crowned the best in the world come December,’ added Okowa who asked Nigerians to go to World Athletics social media platforms to vote.

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