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Sydney McLaughlin beats Tobi Amusan to 2022 Female Athlete of the Year
World Record (WR) holder Tobi Amusan, has been voted behind Sydney McLaughlin and Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce as the World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year for 2022 season.
Prior to the award ceremony, it looked promising for Amusan who broke the WR in the women’s 100mH with 12.12s at the World Championships in Oregon, successfully defended her Commonwealth Games title setting a new Games Record (GR) of 12.30s, retained her Diamond League title clocking a Meeting Record (MR), and won the African title.
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Doing this, she became the first Nigerian and African female athlete to achieve these feats, which put her in a solid contention for the prestigious award.
However, it was McLaughlin who took the night having had a fantastic season herself. The American broke the 400m Hurdles WR on two occasions and won two Gold medals at the World Championships in Oregon.
The 23-year-old first broke the WR in June, at the USA World Championships trials in Eugene, running an outstanding 51.41s.
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Barely a month later, she ran an incredible 50.68s to successfully retain her World title, breaking the WR for the second time this year. Thereafter, she helped the USA 4x400m relay team secure a third consecutive World title, with a blazing split time of 47.91s.
By comparison, no other runner in the field ran a split time faster than 49.39s, and only five women, including McLaughlin, ran under 50s with their splits.
“All my goals were accomplished this year,” said McLaughlin. We were able to accomplish everything we set out to do. It couldn’t have been any better, and I was so grateful that I was able to produce that performance in front of a home ground.” McLaughlin concluded in an interview with World Athletics.
Fraser-Pryce was another huge contender for the award, having had an incredible consistent 2022 season.
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The Jamaican surpassed the 10.70s mark in the 100m seven times throughout this season and one of those performances – her 10.67s in Oregon – saw her become the first athlete to win five World titles in a single individual running event.
In her 15th season of international racing, the 35-year-old sprint star continued to blaze a trail.
Amusan will take solace in the fact that she's the first Nigerian athlete in history to be amongst the five finalist for the distinguished award, and eventually finish as second runner-up.
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