Tobi Amusan is highest ranking Nigerian athlete in world

Nigerian sprint star Tobi Amusan has climbed to third position in the latest World Athletics women’s 100m hurdles rankings.

Amusan’s silver medal at the World Championships in Tokyo lifted her from ninth to third, making her the highest-ranked Nigerian athlete in the world right now.

The 28-year-old, who already holds the world record in the 100m hurdles, is now only behind Grace Stark of the United States, who leads the list, and Switzerland’s new world champion Ditaji Kambundji in second place.

Also, in the overall women’s world rankings, Amusan also made a huge leap, rising from 68th to 28th. This 40-place climb means she is the only Nigerian woman currently in the global top 100, especially after Favour Ofili dropped out.

Ofili’s absence in Tokyo and her switch of allegiance to Turkey left Amusan standing alone at the top.

There was also positive news for Nigeria’s Ezekiel Nathaniel.

The 22-year-old 400m hurdler, who has broken the national record five times in 2025, moved from 59th to 15th in the overall rankings.

He remains fifth in his event, still behind new world champion Rai Benjamin of the U.S., Norway’s Karsten Warholm, Brazil’s Alison dos Santos, and Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba. The only change among them came when Benjamin overtook Warholm after the Norwegian failed to medal in Tokyo.

Shot put specialist Chukwuebuka Enekwechi also made history.

After finishing fifth at the World Championships, he entered the world’s top 100 for the first time, now ranked 99th overall. In the men’s shot put rankings, he sits seventh, highlighted by his 22.10m throw at the Prefontaine Classic in May. That performance made him the first African athlete to break the 22m barrier.