Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan made a perfect start to the defence of her women’s 100m hurdles title at the World Athletics Championships this Tuesday, August 22, 2023.

Amusan convincingly won heat five in what was her first outing in Budapest.

The 26-year-old crossed the line with a time of 12.48s, to secure a place in the semi-finals.

Despite a slow start, she finished ahead of Jamaican Champion Megan Tapper who came 2nd in 12.51s and Australian Michelle Jenneke in 12.71s.

The 100m hurdles champion and world record holder competed in Heat 5 alongside Ebony Morrison, Michelle Jenneke, Natalia Christofi, Nika Glojnaric, and Maayke Tjin-a-lim.

Amusan will lead the rest out in the semi final on Wednesday at 7:20pm Nigerian time.

At the 2022 World Championship in Eugene, USA, Amusan came first with a 12.40 (African record) before setting a new world record of 12.12 to smash the 12.20 world record set by Kendra Harrison in 2016.

Recall that Amusan was cleared last week by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after fears had emerged that the sprint champion would not be cleared to defend her title at the championship in Budapest.

However, a disciplinary panel cleared Amusan of any wrongdoing two days before the commencement of the championship.

“A panel of the Disciplinary Panel, has today (Thursday, August 17, 2023) found that Tobi Amusan has not committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) of three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period,” the statement read.

Amusan is one of Nigeria’s medal hopefuls at the championship after a tough start as Ese Brume finished fourth in the women’s long jump event on Sunday.

She also retained her Commonwealth Games title with a new Games’ record of 12.30s and defended her Diamond League title in a record-breaking season that saw her set impressive records and win the Nigerian, African, Commonwealth, World, and Diamond League titles.

The Ogun-born athlete will face a strong field in the semi-finals on Wednesday.

The final is slated for the National Athletics Centre, Budapest on Friday.