AN impressive Elaine Thompson along with Veronica Campbell-Brown and Sherone Simpson will be hunting gold in the women’s 200m, while Hansle Parchment and Omar McLeod have one more hurdle to face in their quest for a podium spot.

Thompson, who won semi-final one in an impressive 22.13 seconds, will start favourite to add to Jamaica’s medal tally but will have to pull out all the stops to hold off the expected late challenge of Dutch woman Dafne Schippers who also looked easy in winning semi-final two in 22.36 seconds ahead of the battling Sherone Simpson with 22.53 seconds. Veronica Campbell- Brown also advanced to the final with a seasonal best of 22.47 seconds after placing third behind British teenager Dina Asher-Smith who stopped the clock at 22.12 seconds.

Thompson is drawn in lane five and is flanked by Asher-Smith in four and the tall Schippers in lane six. Campbell-Brown is in lane two while Simpson will run out of the uncomfortable lane 9.

Thompson, who enters the final with the second fastest time despite shutting down 20 metres out, said she was just excited to be in the final in her first appearance at a World Champs.

“It is the first time for me and I can’t let the occasion get the better of me, so I just have to stay focused, listen to my coach and just be myself,” said Thompson. She added: “The last two days showed me that Elaine Thompson is ready. Now I just have to execute.”

Thompson, sporting the same yellow sunflowers as 100m champion Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce in the semis, said she hopes to be just as successful. “She (Shelly-Ann) is a good friend and she motivates me and we talk a lot”.

Veteran Campbell-Brown who struck 200m gold in 2011, is clearly not at her best but has been steadily improving with each round and cannot be written off.

“It has been quite a challenging season. I just started to feel like myself again and I just give God thanks because I am heading up the right path to finish off the season,” said Campbell-Brown, adding, “I have already put in the work, it is just to stay focused and leave everything up to God and see.” Olympic 110m hurdle bronze medallist, Hansle Parchment, and national champion, Omar McLeod, are both quietly confident of mining gold.

Parchment is drawn in lane eight while McLeod is in lane five with the powerful and dangerous American David Oliver in lane nine in what many pundits believe to be the most open 110m hurdles final in years.

Parchment who was second in semi-final one with 13.16 seconds, said he was again disappointed with his start, but hopes to get it right in the final.

“I was thinking too much about the start, and when the gun went off, I was still thinking and didn’t realise it was time to race. I will need to make sure that in the final, I keep the tunnel vision necessary, keep my focus and just go out there and lay it down on the track,” said Parchment.

McLeod, one of the race favourites, advanced to the final on the back of two poorly executed races. He, however, believes that the law of averages will allow him to get it right in the final.

“The race wasn’t so clean, I hit the first hurdle but it’s always good that you have something to work on going into the final and I am really excited,” McLeod said.

“It is going to boil down to who has the perfect race and I just want to get out, hold it and keep my focus,” he added.

Both Parchment and McLeod will have to be at their best to get the better of Oliver, Aries Merritt, who has the fastest time into the final of 13.08 seconds, and Russian Sergy Shubenkov with 13.09 seconds.

Jamaica’s third runner in the 110m hurdles semis, Andrew Riley, did not make it to the final.