It was an eventful weekend for the Nigerian duo of Blessing Okagbare and Tobi Amusan who both put up brilliant performances in their respective meets, as Okagbare recorded the 2nd fastest time in the world while Amusan won at the 60m Hurdles event in Metz
Okagbare proved to be in amazing shape at the 3rd leg of the American Track League in Fayetteville (AR) on Sunday when she laced up her spikes to compete in the women’s 60m final, racing to a big Personal Best (PB) of 7.10s to take the win ahead of Jamaican Christania Williams who equally ran a PB of 7.14s, while Teahna Daniels claimed 3rd in 7.17s (SB).
Her time didn’t just earn her the win, but saw her move up places on the 2021 Global Toplist to become the joint 2nd fastest woman in the world at the distance alongside USA’s Javianne Oliver. She also becomes the 7th fastest Nigerian woman ever and the fastest at that since 2012 when Gloria Asumnu ran 7.07s.
Minutes after that 60m race, she returned back to track, storming to a new PB of 23.01s to win the first heat of the 200m, the 2nd fastest time ever run by a Nigerian indoors and just missing out on Regina George’s National Record (NR) from 2013. She finished ahead of Shawnti Jackson in a World Junior Lead of 23.23s and Ashley Henderson in 23.33s.
At the same meet, Divine Oduduru and Charles Okeze finished 5th and 7th respectively in their heats of the men’s 60m, running times of 6.70s and 6.83s.
In the same vein, Commonwealth Champion Tobi Amusan, was in action on Saturday at the Meeting Moselle Athlelor in Metz, powering to win the women’s 60m Hurdles in a time of 8.00s, beating Taliyah Brooks who finished 2nd in a Season’s Best (SB) of 8.06s, just ahead of third-placed Luca Kozak in 8.07s.
