Hurdles world record-holder Tobi Amusan charged with anti-doping violation
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Nigeria's Tobi Amusan set the world record for the women’s 100m hurdles of 12.12 seconds at last year’s World Athletics Championships.
PHOTO: REUTERS
PARIS – Women’s hurdles world record-holder Tobi Amusan said on Wednesday she has been charged with an alleged anti-doping rule violation, casting doubt on her participation in August’s world championships.
“Today, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has charged me with an alleged rule violation for having three missed tests in 12 months,” she said in a post on Instagram.
The Nigerian athlete set the world record for the women’s 100m hurdles of 12.12 seconds at the 2022 World Athletics Championships.
The 26-year-old Amusan vowed to resolve the charges against her before the upcoming world meet in Budapest.
“I intend to fight this charge and will have my case decided by a tribunal of three arbitrators before the start of next month’s World Championships,” she said.
“I am a CLEAN ATHLETE, and I am regularly (maybe more than the usual) tested by the AIU – I was tested within days of my third ‘missed test’.
“I have FAITH that this will be resolved in my favour and that I will be competing at the World Championships in August.”
Amusan’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
She was part of Nigeria’s 4x100m relay squad that won gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games but were then stripped of their medal after anchor runner Nzubechi Grace Nwokocha failed a doping test.
Amusan had won her last two 100m hurdles events in recent days – clocking 12.34sec at the Silesia Diamond League meeting in Poland on Sunday before her 12.35sec effort at Szekesfehervar in Hungary on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Hungary meet also saw American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson suffering her first 100m defeat of the season.
Richardson never recovered from a poor start and could not catch Julien Alfred, the Saint Lucia athlete who has been a sensation on the college circuit.
Alfred clocked 10.89sec to Richardson’s 10.97sec.
It was a disappointing performance for Richardson, who had clocked 10.76sec on Sunday to beat Jamaican Shericka Jackson (10.78sec), the fastest woman in the world this season, at the Silesia event.
Richardson missed the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 after testing positive for cannabis and failed to qualify for the world championships in Eugene.
But she has shown new-found consistency this season and won the US title to make her one of the favourites for gold at the world championships in Budapest.
Olympic 400m champion Steven Gardiner recorded the fastest 400m time of the year, 43.74sec, in winning his event, ahead of Rusheen McDonald of Jamaica, who clocked 44.03sec.
AFP, REUTERS
