A few hours after being named the fifth-best athlete in the world by the World Athletics, Tobi Amusan has been named Best Female Athlete in Africa for 2022 by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), thesportsbay.com reports.
The 25-year-old occupies 1st place in the African ranking, Faith Kipyegon of Kenya in 2nd place, and Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia completes the top three.
In the male category, Soufiane El Bakkali of Mali emerged as the best male athlete while the Kenyan duo of Eluid Kipchoge and Emmanuel Korir came 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Letsile Tebogo from Botswana was named as Africa’s best male prospect while Faith Cherotich is the best female prospect.
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.
