Amusan Ends Season With Second-Place Finish In London

Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan rounded off her 2026 season with a second-place finish in the women’s 100m hurdles at the Athlos meeting in London on Friday.

The former world record holder clocked 12.51 seconds with a 1.2m/s following wind to finish just 0.01 seconds behind American Alaysha Johnson, who won in 12.50 seconds.

Amusan earned $35,000 for her second-place finish at StoneX Stadium in Barnet, where she faced a strong field in the professional women’s-only athletics series.

Bahamas’ Commonwealth Games champion and world indoor record holder Devynne Charlton finished third in 12.63 seconds, while Jamaica’s former world champion Danielle Williams recorded the same time in fourth.

Jamaica’s Megan Simmonds was fifth in 12.66 seconds, with American Rayniah Jones sixth in 12.83 seconds.

Johnson succeeded Masai Russell as the Athlos 100m hurdles champion after Russell withdrew from Friday’s meeting earlier in the week.

Russell, the Olympic champion and current world record holder, had been confirmed for the event after winning the Diamond League Final and the $150,000 World Ultimate Championship.

Amusan’s latest result brings an end to a season in which she remained among the world’s leading hurdlers despite losing her long-standing world record to Russell.

Russell clocked 12.09 seconds at the Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich to break Amusan’s 12.12 seconds world record, set in the semi-finals of the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Amusan had held the record for four years.

The Nigerian also finished runner-up to Russell at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, clocking 12.34 seconds against the American’s 12.22 seconds to earn $75,000.

Russell has now finished ahead of Amusan three consecutive times this season, having also beaten her at the Diamond League Final in Brussels, where the Nigerian finished fourth.

Athlos, created by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, is a professional female-only track and field series launched in 2024. It features a $2.1 million prize purse, with winners of individual events earning $65,000, alongside an Athlos crown designed by Tiffany & Co. and equity in the league.

The series had been scheduled to expand to a two-day event in 2026, but its New York meeting planned for October 2 was cancelled.