World record holder Tobi Amusan believes she can achieve a podium finish at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after reaching the semi-finals in the women’s 100m hurdles event, Afrosport reports.
Amusan topped her Heat in a time of 12.49 seconds, ahead of America’s Alaysha Johnson (12.61 seconds), and Jamaica’s Janeek Brown (12.84 seconds).
In an interview posted by Making of Champions on X, the Ogun State-born athlete reflected on her trajectory at the Olympic Games since making her debut in 2016 in Rio and added that she feels like it’s now her season.
She said “The first time I came as an Olympian, I was like 18/19, the second time, I think I was a little bit experienced and I didn’t get on the podium, this time I think it’s my season.
“God is great, my third Olympics, the goal is to come out here and execute each round, I think I did a pretty decent job.
“I felt like we had three rounds, I just need to know where I am, you know I’m taking it quite easy and see how far I can go when I really press”.
When asked about the difference between her outing at the Paris 2024 event against her Olympics debut in Rio 2016 and then in Tokyo 2020, Amusan stated: “This year is more of having fun and executing my race and just keeping calm, and I think doing that is going in the right direction.”
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“๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ญ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ช ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ 18/19, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ช ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ต ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ช๐ถ๐ฎ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ชโฆ pic.twitter.com/MHHHkj9Z0rโ Making of Champions (@MakingOfChamps) August 7, 2024
The World record holder stated further that she is not competing under pressure and prefers to act like an underdog heading into every race.
Amusan will compete in the semi-finals at the Stade de France on Friday with the final scheduled for Saturday.
She will be up against reigning Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico, Jamaica’s Danielle Williams, America’s Masai Russell and Bahamas’ Devynne Charlton among others.
