Nigeria’s Tobiloba Amusan, who holds the women’s 100m hurdles world record, claimed her third successive Games title at the African Games Accra 2023.
After cruising through the 100m hurdles semifinals in 13.03 seconds, Tobi Amusan overcame a false start scare that earned her a warning from the officials in the finals, clocking 12.89 to successfully defend her title.
Madagascar’s Sidonie Fiadanantsoa (13.19) and Zimbabwe’s Ashley Tinashe Kamangirira (13.59) took silver and bronze medals respectively.
Morocco’s Saad Hinti surprisingly won the men’s 400m hurdles, setting a new national record of 48.82. Botswana’s Victor Ntweng (49.38) and Kemorena Tisang (50.09) finished in second and third positions respectively.
In the men’s and women’s 4x100m relay finals, Nigeria, Ghana, and Liberia finished in the top three positions, albeit in different orders.
Amusan anchored Team Nigeria to gold in the women’s race in a time of 43.05 secs, while Liberia finished second in 44.02 and Ghana edged out South Africa for bronze with 44.21 to 44.72.
Nigeria also won gold in the men’s 4x100m event, crossing the finish in 38.41, just 0.02 ahead of Ghana. The Liberian team set a new national record of 38.73 in third place.
In other events…
World triple jump champion Hugues Fabrice Zango from Burkina Faso retained his crown from Rabat 2019, landing at 16.97m (+1.5m/s) to take gold on his final attempt of the day.
Senegal’s Amath Faye took the silver medal with a best effort of 16.24m ahead of Zango’s compatriot Yacouba Loue, who claimed the bronze medal with a lifetime best of 15.86m.
Nigeria’s Ese Brume, the African record-holder in the women’s long jump, also secured a second consecutive African Games title with her first jump of 6.92m (+3.9m/s) at the University of Ghana stadium.
Burkina Faso’s Marthe Koala, the heptathlon champion from Rabat 2019, took the silver with a best of 6.81m while 17-year-old Nigerian, Prestina Ochonogor, leapt to a lifetime best with 6.67m to take the bronze medal. Triple jump champion Ruth Usoro, also from Nigeria, was fourth with a best jump of 6.62m.
South Africa’s Jo-Ane van Dyk secured a complete African Games medal set after winning the gold in the women’s Javelin throw to add to her collections of bronze (Brazaville, 2015) and silver (Rabat, 2019) medals.
Van Dyk broke the African Games record three times during the evening session to win the title with a lifetime best of 60.80m. Her compatriot Jana van Schalkwyk took the silver medal with a mark of 57.64m while Uganda’s Josephine Joyce Lalam set a national record of 57.01m to take the bronze medal.
Nigeria’s Obiageri Amaechi grabbed the gold medal in the women’s Discus throw with a best of 58.93m ahead of compatriot, and 2022 Commonwealth Games champion, Chioma Onyekwere, who took silver with 58.03m. Cameroonian Nora Atim Monie was third with 56.11m.
African record-holder Mostafa Al Gamel won his fourth successive gold medal for Egypt in the men’s Hammer throw with a best of 73.65m. Tunisia’s Mohsen Anani (67.71m) and South Africa’s Alan Donald Cumming (67.57m) took home the silver and bronze medals respectively.
