Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) President, Tonobok Okowa, has described sprint hurdler, Tobiloba Amusan’s new African record in the 100m hurdles, which she achieved at the Diamond League in Paris on Saturday night, as a boost to Nigeria’s hope of challenging for a first-ever gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon next month.

Amusan, 25, finished strongly in the race to win in 12.41 seconds, 0.02 better than her previous 12.42 seconds best, which she ran last year to win the historic 100m hurdles at the Diamond League final in Zurich.

“Congratulations to Tobi, who has continued to deliver for Nigeria at the top level of track and field in the world,” said the AFN president.

The reigning Commonwealth Games champion, fourth at the Olympics last year in Tokyo and at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar in 2019, looks capable of claiming her first global medal in Oregon, as well as retaining the Commonwealth title she won in 2018.

“Nigeria’s national anthem is yet to be sung at the flagship event of World Athletics, the World Championships and Tobi now looks ready to join Ese Brume, our sprinters and the relay teams in the bid to get Nigeria to the podium as world champion,” said Okowa.

Okowa believes Nigeria is now taking her rightful place in global athletics and is confident the country’s rising profile will translate to podium appearances at global athletics championships and games.