Running in Protest, Tobi Amusan Kicked out of Shanghai Diamond League Over DQ

Tobi Amusan has been going through a rough patch recently. The Nigerian athlete is one of the most prominent hurdlers in the women’s 100m discipline at the moment. She is currently the world record holder, running a 100m hurdle in 12.12s. Apart from that, Amusan also boasts of being the champion in the African and the Commonwealth realm. Although she specializes in hurdles, her antics in the 100m, 200m, and 60 m are also impressive. She has personal bests of 11.10s, 22.66s, and 7.75s respectively. 

Unfortunately, Amusan hasn’t been able to replicate her heroics recently. Running in the Shanghai Diamond League, Amusan was ruled out via a disqualification. And the reason? Well, the first false start of the tournament. 

Tobi Amusan’s protest goes haywire after DQ fiasco

Participating in the Shanghai Diamond League, Tobi Amusan stated that she would be running in protest of her DQ. As soon as the gun was fired, Amusan bolted out of her position to take the lead. Sprinting at her usual rapid pace, the Nigerian achieved a photo finish to clinch victory. Sadly, her happiness would be short-lived as Amusan was deemed disqualified for an alleged false start. While Amusan clearly seemed dissatisfied, the scoreboard displayed a reaction time of 0.093, marked in red. 

The news soon went viral on social media. Taking to X, Travis Miller conveyed the news stating, “🟥First false start of the Diamond League season. 🇳🇬Tobi Amusan will run under protest #SuzhouDL” Another tweet from Owen M opined that since Amusan was running in anger, she might have faltered looking to give more than her 100%. 

While Amusan was stripped of her photo-finish victory, the podium position went to Jasmine Camacho Quinn. The 27-year-old Puerto Rican athlete completed her run in 12.63s to be crowned the champion. This was Quinn’s second successive victory as she also came out on top in the recently concluded Xiamen Diamond League 2024. Coming back to Amusan, although she has had a couple of hiccups lately, her career graph has been anything but interesting this year. 

Tobi Amusan broke a 25-year-old record in January 2024

When Tobi Amusan set foot at the World Indoor Tour at Astana, little did anyone know that an age-old record would be at risk. After Amusan ambushed her way to victory, a look at her timing revealed history. The 27-year-old ran the 60m hurdle in 7.77s, overshadowing the African record for the fastest time in the discipline. 

Gloria Alozie clocked 7.82s back in 1992 to establish the record, which got butchered by quite a margin by Amusan. But Amusan was not satisfied. Competing at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, the Nigerian once again broke her own record. Clocking a time of 7.75s, Amusan established a new record, albeit coming second best in the tournament.