Amusan sets for season opener in Jamaica

World record holder in the Women’s 100m hurdles, Tobi Amusan, will run her first race of the season at the Queen’s/Grace Jackson Meet in Kingston, Jamaica on Saturday when she will hit the tracks in the 60m event at the meet.

Amusan is expected to race against the home girl and one of Jamaica’s finest athletes, Jackson, marking the first time they will be competing in the same event.

It will be Amusan’s first official race since the 2024 Olympics in Paris and for Jackson as well after pulling out of the Games last year.

The 27-year-old, who made a coaching switch in September 2024, is now under the tutelage of Usain Bolt’s coach Glen Mills in Jamaica and will be looking forward to making a bright start to the season after fizzling out of the last campaign.

However, the meet is not World Athletics certified, hence will not count for qualification purposes for the 2025 World Championships which will be held in Tokyo from September 13 to 21 in Tokyo, Japan.

Also listed to run the women’s 60m at the Queen’s/Grace Jackson Meet are former world junior champion Anthonique Strachan, and Jonielle Smith.

Other stars expected to compete are Zharnel Hughes, Tyquendo Tracy, and Brendon Rodney.

Amusan is the current world record holder in the 100m hurdles with a time of 12.1s which she ran at the semi-final of the 2022 World Championships in Oregon. She won the world title the same evening to become Nigeria’s first-ever world champion in athletics.

For Nigeria, she has competed in three Olympics and is also a four-time African Games champion, five-time African champion, three-time Diamond League winner (2021, 2022, 2023), and two-time Commonwealth Games champion (2018 and 2022).

She was recently inducted into the University of Texas El Paso’s, Hall of Fame.