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Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan has won silver in the women’s 100m hurdles at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest.
Amusan clocked 12.34 seconds to finish second behind United States Olympic champion Masai Russell, who won the title in 12.22 seconds on Friday.
Netherlands’ Nadine Visser completed the podium in 12.39 seconds.
Amusan, the former world record holder in the event, could not reclaim the top position from Russell, who broke her world record with a time of 12.09 seconds at the Zurich Diamond League in August.
Russell entered the Budapest final as the favourite following her record-breaking performance in Zurich and extended her impressive 2026 campaign with another victory.
The American maintained her unbeaten run this year, adding the Ultimate Championship title to her Diamond League Final triumph in Brussels last week.
Amusan reflects on difficult season
Speaking after the race, Amusan said she approached the championship determined to give her best after enduring a challenging period during the season.
“First, God is good,” she said.
“What started off as an amazing season, you know, in between I had some nipping here and there. You know, I’m not a robot. You know, the body did shut down at a point.”
The hurdler said she gradually regained her momentum by taking each race as it came before arriving in Budapest, determined to give everything she had.
“Coming into this championship, my mindset going to the line was, ‘We die here.’ I just kept telling myself I have to give it my all,” she said.
Amusan said she was prepared to accept whatever result followed once she had given her best.
“All I knew was, look, I did it. That’s all I knew. And the second I saw the second-place finish, I was like, look, I can’t complain. God is good,” she said.
Her silver medal came after a difficult few weeks for the former world record holder. Amusan finished third at the Commonwealth Games before Russell broke her 100m hurdles world record, after which she finished fourth at the Diamond League Final.
“It was very rough,” Amusan admitted.
“I mean, to my family, to my mentor, to my coach, to my boyfriend. That’s brought life back into me.”
She said encouragement from those close to her helped her put the setbacks behind her and focus on her performance in Budapest.
“This morning it was all about put the past behind you and just go for it. And those few sentences that I got here and there got me to this finish line today,” she said.
Amusan said her silver medal, together with her Commonwealth Games medal, represented a positive response to the setbacks she had experienced.
“With the Commonwealth medal, it is a statement,” she said.
‘Women’s hurdles getting scarier’
Amusan also acknowledged the growing competitiveness in the women’s 100m hurdles, predicting an even tougher battle among the leading athletes in the coming years.
“Honestly, in that event, I think I would be the sleeping lion,” she said.
“I think the women’s hurdles is just getting scarier every damn year. Next year, I do not know what’s going to happen. But it’s going to be bloody.”
The silver medal gives Amusan another major podium finish as she continues her bid to remain among the world’s leading 100m hurdlers.
