Nigeria’s Toby Amusan creates a stir after world record win

Amuson came in with a record time of 12.12 seconds, beating Kendra Harrison’s 2016 record of 12.20 seconds by 0.8.

She won the gold medal in the final, although her initial time of 12.06 was over due to high wind speed.

Amusan’s world record shook the athletics world.

“very nice” tweeted Jamaican great Usain Bolt tracks and fields while 200m champion and American record holder Noah Lyles tweeted: “12.12 Are you kidding me?” Both congratulated him on Twitter.

In November 2016, the now 25-year-old tweeted: “Unknown now but soon I’ll be unforgettable, I’ll persist until I succeed.”

“When I saw it on screen after the semi-finals, I couldn’t believe it. But it was just a matter of time,” Amusan told reporters on Sunday.

Her victory – Nigeria’s first gold in such an event – was met with joy, with congratulations a state governor And a presidential candidate in the upcoming 2023 elections.

But some expressed skepticism over the race, which saw many of the competitors clocking in at their best.

Michael Johnson, a four-time Olympic gold medalist and BBC commentator, said, “I don’t think 100 hours is right. World record broken by .08! 12 PB set. 5 national records set.” wrote on twitterNoting that, Cindy Sember of Great Britain remarked that she was going slow at the time of her personal best and national record.

“All the athletes looked shocked,” said the former 200 and 400-meter runner.

“Heat 2 first showed us a winning time of 12.53. A few seconds later it shows 12.43. It’s normal to drop below .01. .10 is not,” he said.

Johnson received a swift and fierce response to his comments, and later returned to Twitter to clarify further, pointing out that he predicted Amuson would win.

“My job as a commentator is to comment. I was attacked, accused of racism, and one athlete questioning the timing of 28 athletes (not 1 athlete) wondering whether the timing system was flawed. Questioned the brilliance of which I respect and predict. To win. Unacceptable. I move on,” he said.

CNN has reached out to World Athletics for comment.