Tobi Amusan, the 2022 100 metres hurdles World Athletics Champion and world record holder is celebrating her coach, Olympian Lacena Golding-Clarke, calling her “my lovely coach and second mum.”
Amusan’s world record run of 12.12 seconds in the semi-finals of the 100m hurdles and her 12.06 wind-assisted (+2.5) victory in the final on Sunday gave Nigeria their only gold medal at the championships.
Jamaica’s Britany Anderson was second in 12.23 while Tokyo Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho Quinn was third, also in 12.23.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Tobi said: “Y’all should meet my lovely coach and second mum, Coach Lacena Golding Clarke. She recruited me while I was back in Nigeria to University of Texas, El Paso when I was running 14.2s and today is history for both of us.
“She was also a world class hurdler during her active days; multiple finalist at the Olympics, World Championships and a Commonwealth Games Champion representing Jamaica.
Thank you for everything coach.”
Amusan has been under the watchful eye of Golding-Clarke since 2016 from her days at the University of Texas, El Paso.
Golding-Clarke had gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and made five appearances at the World Championships.
Amusan says that the foundation that Golding-Clarke laid for her was invaluable.
“She is not just my coach; she is my mother. She is the one that I can run to at the slightest inconvenience. She has kept me grounded from College up till now,” Amusan said in her post-race press conference.
Amusan’s performances are coming off back-to-back fourth-place finishes in the 2019 World Championships and at last year’s Tokyo Olympics.
Amusan, originally a sprinter and a longer jumper who had made the transition to the hurdles as a teenager, believes her destiny could have been different had she taken the decision to move on from Golding-Clarke.
Initially, she felt that the results were not coming as quickly as she would have liked. But after much thought and prayer, she decided that she was going to trust the process.
“Though there was a time I was planning on switching coaches because I wasn’t being patient. I wanted to go really fast and I felt like it wasn’t coming and she was like ‘It’s OK. Everything is going to come together at the time that it needs to’,” Amusan said.
“And I just prayed about it and just felt like OK, I’m going to stay and I’m glad that I took that decision and stayed and this is the positive result.”
Amusan came into the championships with the fourth-fastest time in the world this year, 12.40, but shocked everybody when she ran that in the first heat.
It has been the confidence that Golding-Clarke place in Amusan, she says that has made the difference.
“She kept my nerves down the entire time. She said ‘it’s OK, your mind is just playing with you’. She just told me to keep trusting the process and trust myself and you are the best out there and go get it!” Amusan said.
“I’m just thankful.”