Oluwatobiloba Amusan, Nigeria’s 100-meter hurdles world record holder, has been nominated for the 2023 Laureus Awards. She is the first athlete from Nigeria to be nominated for the prestigious Laureus Awards.
The sprinter, who set a new world record of 12.12 seconds last summer at the World Championships in Eugene, USA, was nominated in the World Breakthrough of the Year category alongside five other contestants, including tennis stars Carlos Alcaraz and Elena Rybakina, Atlas Lions of Morocco, semi-finalists at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, Nathan Chen, and American professional golfer Scott Scheffler.
Amusan’s nomination is linked to her outstanding performance on the track in 2022. She won every trophy competed for, as well as breaking American Kendra Harrison’s 2016 world record of 12.20 seconds. Her stunning season saw her defend her African Championships 100m hurdles title in Mauritius with a time of 12.57 seconds before heading to Eugene, Oregon in July.
Amusan went on to defend her title at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, winning her second consecutive gold medal in the 100 meters hurdles with a new Games Record of 12.30 seconds. She also contributed to Nigeria’s women’s 4 X 100 meters relay team’s victory. She finished her very successful season by winning the 100 meters hurdles event at the Zürich Diamond League final event in 12.29 seconds, retaining her title.
Amusan received a National honour alongside Long Jumper Ese Brume for all of these accomplishments in a single calendar season.
Argentina’s 2022 World Cup Captain, Lionel Messi, will compete for the top Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award once again, this time against his PSG teammate, Kylian Mbappe. Despite scoring a hat trick in the World Cup final between Argentina and France, Mbappe was denied the chance to lift the trophy.