Amusan started her sports journey as a football player and she just loved running around. They took her to a track coach and in competing against supposedly coached athletes, she came first. That was how her athletics career took off in Ijebu-Ode.

She started winning medals at local competitions, but she actually came into the national consciousness when she won a silver medal at the 2013 African Youth Championships in Warri.

Amusan told the World Athletics when she was replaced as a member of Nigeria’s 4x100m relay squad at the trials for the 2014 African Youth Games that she figured she had nothing to lose and entered the hurdles.

It proved to be a smart decision, as she won that and earned silver at the African Youth Games in Botswana. Then followed a trip to Ethiopia in 2015, where she won African U20 gold, followed by a breakthrough victory at the All-African Games in Brazzaville, Congo.

“It was one of the biggest milestones of my career; winning that championship set me up for who I am today,” she said.

She made it to the 100m Hurdles semi-final at the 2016 Rio Olympics; came fourth at the World Athletics Championships in 2019; was fourth again at the 2020 Olympics before shattering the world record in 2022 in the United States.

In 2016, Amusan received a scholarship to attend the University of Texas, El Paso. Amusan first broke through the 13s barrier in the 100m hurdles in 2016 with a time of 12.83s at the El Paso UTEP Invitational.

Well done!!

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