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While several factors can be responsible for her below-par performance in perhaps her last Olympic appearance, here are the vital possible reasons that could have caused Tobi Amusan's failure to make her first major final in eight years.
For the first time since the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Tobi Amusan will not compete in a major championship final after finishing third in her women's 100mH semifinal race at Paris 2024.
The World Record (WR) holder competing in semifinal 1 finished out of the top 2 automatic qualifying spots in 12.55s as USA's Grace Stark blazed to the top position in 12.39s ahead of Devynne Charlton in 12.50s.
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Amusan's time was ninth-fastest overall, which sadly was one spot out of the top eight qualifying spots.
While several factors can be responsible for her below-par performance in perhaps her last Olympic appearance, here are the vital possible reasons that could have caused her failure to make her first major final in eight years.
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1 - Pressure
Amusan was running the semifinal with medal hopes hanging on her shoulders as Nigeria has failed to produce a medallist since the start of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Ese Brume was highly rated to continue her consistency of winning a medal at major championships in the women's in the women's long jump, but she also faltered with a fifth-place finish in the final.
With attention solely on Amusan to deliver a medal, the former world champion could have been too pressured, hence, affecting the perfect execution of her race plan.
2 - Overconfidence
The fact that Amusan had always qualified for a major championship final since 2016 may have made her too confident that Paris won't be different.
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12:25 - 09.08.2024
Paris 2024: God please forgive us - Nigerians beg as Tobi Amusan crashes out of Olympics
Calls for forgiveness have filled social media after Tobi Amusan failed to qualify for the final of the Women's 100m hurdles.
After her 100m heat race, which she won against USA's Grace Stark, the Commonwealth champion was overconfident of getting to the final and winning a medal, having narrowly missed on podium placement in Tokyo with a fourth-place finish.
In her words, she said: "This is my year" when speaking to reporters about her goal in Paris.
3 - An inconsistent 2024 season
Honestly, Amusan hasn't been in her best form in the outdoor season and most of her races depicted that with shaky performances or victories.
Heading to Paris 2024 Olympics, she had the eighth-fastest time in the world this year and was unable to go below the 12.40s time - a mark three hurdlers needed to break and make the final, including her fierce rival Jasmine Camacho-Quinn.
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Her inconsistency this season has always been suspicious but was overlooked because she peaks at the right time for a major championship. However, with the rapid growth and competition in the women's 100mH event this season, it was expected that all hurdlers would bring their A-game and only the best would excel.
4 - High expectations
Nigerians had high expectations she would assuredly win a medal and this may have gotten into her head based on the huge support she gets from her people.
These expectations can lead to pressure and in a bid to outperform and deliver, may have led to a lack of concentration that she'll need to qualify for the final first before any attempt of claiming the Olympic title or at least a medal.
5 - New generation of hurdlers are ready to takeover
Among the finalists, six of them belong to the new generation of hurdlers who are hungry and ready to take over the women's 100mH category.
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16:09 - 01.07.2024
Ackera Nugent and Masai Russell now favourites to challenge Tobi Amusan in Paris after posting world-leading times
The US and Jamaican Olympic Trials produced two world-leading performances as Ackera Nugent and Masai Russell blazed to record-breaking times and now stand as top favourites ahead of the Paris Olympic Games.
Only Camacho-Quinn and Devynne Charlton are Amusan's stack rivals from 2016, with others such as reigning world champion Danielle Williams also failing to book her spot in the final.
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