Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan set a new world record on Sunday, July 24 at the World Athletics Championship, completing the 100m hurdles at the semifinals in 12:12 seconds.
Amusan, however, did not do this without the help of her coach Lacena Golding-Clarke.
Amusan and her Jamaican coach have been together since 2016. Born on March 20, 1975, Golding-Clarke represented Jamaica as a hurdling athlete at the Olympics in 1996, 2000 and 2004, and took part in the World Championships on five separate occasions.
Among her laurels, Golding-Clarke won gold for Jamaica in the 100m hurdles at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. She ran in 12.77 seconds.
Amusan has always had the mentality of a winner. Having a winner as her coach improved her game.
Since her historic feat, Amusan’s November 8, 2016 tweet has been mentioned multiple times.
On that day, she tweeted, “Unknown now, but soon I will be unforgettable. I will persist until I succeed.”
Amusan eyed the former world record held by USA’s Kendra Harrison. The American ran 12.20 seconds in 2016.
In 2017, the Ijedu-Ode-born sprinter told Making of Champions, “At this moment, Kendra [Harrison] owns the record and I don’t have any but she doesn’t have two heads. It will be good for me to run a PR or break the world record if she is not careful–just kidding…”
Recalling the words of her coach, Amusan tweeted in 2020 when the world was battling with lockdowns over COVID-19 pandemic, “My coach taught me that when I walk into a room full of my rivals to look like I own the damn world record. She always reminds me that I’ve practiced hard to trust myself and translate that aggressiveness onto the track.”
The 25-year-old now has her sight fixed on defending her world record.
