Zeller, Amene Shine on Opening Weekend at Worlds
7/18/2022 11:42:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
EUGENE, Ore. -- Current University of Michigan men's track and field student-athletes Joshua Zeller and Dubem Amene excelled during the first three days of the World Athletics Championships at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field, as both men recorded top-five finishes in final-round competitions.
The Englishman Zeller cemented his position as not just one of the world's best up-and-coming sprint hurdlers, but one of its best regardless of age, with a fifth-place finish in a dramatic 110-meter hurdles final Sunday night (July 17), while Amene ran crucial legs of Nigeria's mixed 4x400 relay that finished sixth on Friday (July 15).
In his first senior-level global championships, the Big Ten record-holder and NCAA bronze medalist Zeller held his own against the world's best.
He proved able to match the moment and the circumstances as he clocked 13.33 (+1.2m/s) in a pressure-packed and dramatic final, just missing fourth place by 0.01 of a second.
Facing what was already the biggest race of his life, he watched two lanes over as Olympic champion Hansle Parchment injured himself during warmups.
Moments later, the field was called back to the line after meet officials made a controversial false start ruling against world leader Devon Allen of the United States. The restart was further delayed as Allen unsuccessfully argued his case.
He advanced to the final on the strength of a 13.41 (+0.4m/s) opening round effort on Saturday for an automatic berth to Sunday's semifinal, where he again advanced automatically with a 13.31 (-0.6m/s) performance.
Despite the long season that has been ongoing since January and has featured 16 different weekends of competition, Zeller was near his best on the biggest stage. The weekend featured the third-, fourth- and sixth-fastest wind-legal times of his career.
With at least the Commonwealth Games still to come later this summer, Zeller now owns the 10 fastest wind-legal 110-meter hurdles times in school history. Comparing across all events in school history using the World Athletics Scoring Tables, Zeller owns 11 of the 30 best individual performances ever run by Michigan athletes.
Amene made his senior-level global championships debut, as well, though he had previously represented Nigeria at the 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships.
The sophomore ran consistent and strong legs for the Nigerians both in the semifinals and final. In a race that alternated between male and female runners, Amene ran the third leg in both rounds. He clocked a 45.79 split in the semifinals as Nigeria went 3:14.59 to secure the eighth-and-final qualifying spot.
Hours later, he ran even faster with a 45.66 split to move Nigeria up from eighth to sixth, where the team would ultimately finish.
It was just the latest accolade in the stellar breakthrough season for Amene, who earned a pair of All-America honors, two Big Ten silver medals and two school records in 2022.
The World Championships continue in Eugene through Sunday (July 24), with alumni Cindy (Ofili) Sember and Steven Bastien both in action Saturday and Sunday in the 100-meter hurdles and decathlon, respectively.
Players Mentioned
