The Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), on Tuesday, named Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan as Africa’s Best Female Athlete for the Year 2022.
Winner at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham where she set a record and also the World Championships in Oregon, where she set a new World Record of 12.12s in the Hurdles event, Amusan has been far above her contemporaries this year.
She also won the Diamond League trophy for the second successive season, highlighting her rating as one of the world’s best and Africa’s undisputed number one at the moment.
Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon and Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey, who are both world champions in the 1500m and 1000m were ranked second and third respectively behind Amusan, who has enjoyed a phenomenal year.
Earlier this month, Amusan was named the fifth best female athlete in 2022 by World Athletics.
The World Athletics ranked each athlete according to the points they amassed from their performances during the season, using the scoring tables of athletics.
The 25-year-old hurdler had a fantastic year and became the first Nigerian world champion in an athletics event when she won the 2022 World Championships 100m hurdles gold medal, setting the current world record of 12.12 seconds in the semifinal, followed up by a 12.06s in the final.
She also won gold again at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, before retaining her Diamond League Trophy in Zurich in a new meet record of 12.29s. The previous record, which stood for 22 years, was held by an American legend, Gail Devers.
The World Athletics recently ratified Amusan’s women’s world 100m hurdles record set at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon, the United States.
Amusan also made the shortlist of five finalists for the Women’s World Athlete of The Year Award.Jamaica’s sprints legend, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, tops the list, followed by her compatriot, Sharicka Jackson. Venezuela’s Triple Jump queen, Yulimar Rojas, occupies the third position, and USA’s Sydney McLaughlin in fourth.
Netherland’s 400m Hurdler Femke Bol is sixth, Ethiopia’s runner Gudaf Tsegay is seventh, Ukraine’shHigh jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh is eighth, Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon is ninth, and American shot put thrower Chase Ealey is ranked tenth.
