Tobi Amusan answered a difficult week on the track with victory in Brescia, winning the women’s 100 metres hurdles in 12.56 seconds on Sunday.
The Nigerian hurdler produced the winning run despite a 1.7 metres-per-second headwind, finishing ahead of American Alaysha Johnson, who clocked 12.62, and Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent, who was third in 12.75.
World Athletics records Amusan as the winner of the event at the Grand Prix Brescia, a Continental Tour Silver meeting held on August 30.
The result carried added weight because it came only three days after a dramatic night in Zürich.
Amusan ran a season-best 12.23 there to finish second, but the meeting was dominated by Masai Russell’s 12.09 world record — a performance that erased Amusan’s former global mark of 12.12 from the record books.
Brescia therefore offered an immediate test of response.
Amusan did not reproduce her Zürich time, but she did what mattered most in the race in front of her: she won.
Against Johnson and Nugent, two established international rivals, the Nigerian controlled the contest well enough to come through first despite the significant headwind.
For Nigeria, the victory keeps one of the country’s most established global track names firmly in competitive focus as the international athletics season moves deeper into its closing stages.
It also gives Amusan a result with psychological value after the upheaval of Zürich.
The world record may have changed hands, but in Brescia, Amusan’s response was immediate: back on the track, back against elite opposition, and back in front at the finish.
