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Amusan Bounces Back, Reclaims Gold at Berlin Meet
World record holder Tobi Amusan dominated the women’s 100m hurdles at the ISTAF 2022 Berlin meeting on Sunday, winning in a time of 12.45 seconds. The meet is part of the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver level series.
Amusan entered Sunday’s race on the back of a second-place performance at the 2022 Lausanne Diamond League meeting last month, but said she was confident of bouncing back at the Olympic Stadium this weekend.
The Nigerian standout got off to a strong start to build a sizable lead and then powered away to secure the victory.
She hit the last hurdle and was pictured limping at the end of the race, even minutes after her celebrations. But, the world champion revealed afterward that she was okay and is now looking forward to her next competition at the 2022 Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich later this week.
American two-time world junior champion Tia Jones finished strongly over the closing barriers to take second place with a time of 12.58 while Olympic bronze medalist Megan Tapper of Jamaica was pushed back into third place in 12.66.
Amusan said after her victory: “It has been a long season, but I am still alive. I just wanted to finish strong today. I was here to execute.
“I need to work on what I need to work on, but it is alright. There is always room for improvement. I need to improve my start and my finish.
“I will race again in Zurich. Today we had a great competitive field. My goal was to focus on myself.”
Amusan won the world title in Oregon in July with the fastest time in any conditions at 12.06 seconds, hours after running 12.12 seconds to set the current world record in the semi-final.
Meanwhile, the top German finisher was Isabel Mayer who ran a personal best time of 13.24 to better the 13.25 she clocked in June.
“It could not have been better for me today,” said Mayer. “I was super excited because the German Championships here were a bit traumatic for me. I felt very good today.
“I just wanted to have fun and that worked out today.”
Also, Ese Brume, who clinched her first win at the Diamond League Meet, winning the Women’s Long Jump event at the Allianz Memorial Van Damme in Brussels, Belgium on Friday, finished second in the women’s long jump event in Berlin.
The Commonwealth champion jumped 6.78m to finish behind world and Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo, who won with a leap of 6.92m.
Brume got her first-ever victory in Brussels, winning with a distance of 6.83m, having finished second in Doha (2018) and Eugene (2022).
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
