Prior to Monday night, Ditaji Kambundji was not even the biggest athletics name in her family, let alone the field for the final of the women’s 100m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.

And yet the Swiss athlete upstaged a series of more heavily fancied rivals to seal a shock gold, shattering her personal best in the process.

Kambundji, whose sister Mujinga is a double world champion indoors and a global medallist outdoors, had struggled to translate her own indoor form in 2025 to the outdoors.

But when it mattered, she produced the race of her lifetime to win in a time of 12.24, which was just shy of Yordanka Donkova’s 27-year-old European record but well below the 12.40 Ditaji had run in Rome last year and Zurich this year.

While the 23-year-old had not been tipped as one of the favourites, the final still appeared to be wide open.

There was the Olympic champion Masai Russell, who had fallen at the last World Championships but was the fastest woman in the world this year with a 12.17 to put her second on the world all-time list.

And there was the one woman faster than her, the Nigerian Tobi Amusan as well as Russell’s US teammate Grace Stark, who has been arguably the most consistent sprint hurdler this season with three Diamond League victories prior to Tokyo.

But Kambundji had a great start and was never bettered as she took the line ahead of Amusan in second with Stark rounding off the podium.

Following the win, she had a look of utter disbelief at the result amid emotional celebrations.

Meanwhile, Russell, was thrown off her rhythm by hitting a number of hurdles and missed out on the medals in fourth place.

There was a shock in the semifinals earlier in the evening when Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent missed out on a place in the final, narrowly edged out of the second of the two non-automatic qualifying spots.

The 23-year-old has been one of the more consistent athletes on the world stage this season after taking out a series of the Tokyo finalists in Eugene and Zurich, the latter resulting in her winning the first Diamond League title of her career.

Stark, in the same semifinal, won that ahead of Kambundji. Semifinal two followed the form book as Amusan edged out Nadine Visser to be the fastest into the final.

The world record-holder’s time of 12.36 was just a one hundredth of a second quicker than Stark whose teammate Russell had to work hard to get through the field to win the third semi-final.

Come the final, Kambundji turned the world order on its head for comfortably the biggest win of her nascent career.

Kambundji said following her gold: “It’s crazy. I knew I had it in me. You could see on my face how happy I was when I realised I won.

“I thought that I was able to do it but I was surprised because I knew all the competitors were able to win.

“This is something I have been working for and to run it in the way I wanted to is special. Getting a personal best is nice but all that mattered today was the title. It’s amazing to be world champion.”

It was on the same track that her older sister, who is due to give birth to her first child at the end of November, had competed in a trio of Olympic finals. And her younger sibling said: “We definitely have a good relationship with this track.

“I am sure my sister is excited for me. It’s exciting to have her support. I was thinking about her a lot during these days. Our bond is really special. I know she will be thrilled. I am bringing home something really incredible.”

-World Athletics

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Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan, once again rose to the occasion on the global stage, winning silver in the women’s 100 metres hurdles final at the World Athletics Championships.

Amusan, the 2022 world champion and world record holder, powered to second place with a season’s best 12.29 seconds, only narrowly beaten by Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji, who set a new national record of 12.24 to claim gold.

The Ogun State-born athlete fended off strong competition from the Americans, with Grace Stark (12.34) and Masai Russell (12.44) taking third and fourth respectively.

By adding another global medal to her glittering résumé, Amusan has underlined her remarkable consistency at the top level of sprint hurdling.

Despite battling injuries and personal challenges earlier this season, the 27-year-old showed resilience and grit, once again putting Nigeria on the world athletics medal table.

Her latest podium finish further cements her status as Nigeria’s most decorated sprint hurdler and one of Africa’s greatest track athletes of her generation.

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Nigeria’s world record holder Tobi Amusan stormed into the final of the women’s 100 metres hurdles at the World Athletics Championships on Sunday with a commanding semifinal victory.

The defending champion clocked 12.36 seconds with a reaction time of 0.172 to win her heat and secure automatic qualification for the final at the Tokyo National Stadium later tonight.

Amusan, who set the world record of 12.12 in 2022, finished ahead of the Netherlands’ Nadine Visser (12.45) and Poland’s Pia Skrzyszowska (12.53).

The trio advanced along with Alaysha Johnson of the United States (12.66), Italy’s Elena Carraro, who set a personal best of 12.79, Jamaica’s Amoi Brown (12.93), and home athletes Hitomi Nakajima and Saara Keskitalo of Finland, both clocking 13.02.

The 27-year-old Nigerian had earlier advanced through the opening round in 12.53 without expending much effort. Her semifinal performance reaffirmed her status as the favourite to retain her crown.

Amusan will now chase a second successive world title against a strong field, with Visser and Skrzyszowska expected to pose the biggest challenge.

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