Women’s 100m sweep at World Championships an Independence gift, says JOA boss
Jamaicans home and abroad had anticipated a sweep of the women’s 100m heading into the World Athletics Championships in Eugene on the back of the women’s performance one year ago at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
The trio of Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, reigning World Champion Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce and National champion Shericka Jackson were not only in supreme form heading into the championships but were also the three fastest women over the distance in 2022.
All three women safely navigated their respective semi-finals with victories and headed into the final with the main threat to their impending sweeping coming from Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith.
The defending champion Fraser-Pryce had run four finals previously and won all and on Sunday, in front of an expectant crowd, crowned herself in glory as the greatest female sprinter of all time when she made it five from five in a new championship record time of 10.67s.
Shericka Jackson was second in a personal best 10.73s, while Thompson-Herah was third in 10.81s, with Asher-Smith equalling her personal best and British National record of 10.83s for fourth.
It was the third time that Jamaica was sweeping the top three positions in the women’s 100m at a major athletics event, the first coming back in 2008 at the Olympic Games when Fraser-Pryce, then Fraser, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart finished and astonishing 1-2-2.
Christopher Samuda, president of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) has praised the women for delivering for the country a wonderful “Independence gift” and inspiration for the next generation of athletes in the country.
“It has now become a trilogy of success in track and field and sport historians globally will again record the greatness of a nation and its sprinting prowess.
“The Jamaica Olympic Association congratulates our Olympic empresses, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson and Elaine Thompson-Herah, on giving the nation an invaluable gift of character for Independence and the Olympic movement another treasure to inspire generations of sportsmen and women.”
Samuda insisted that the performance of the ladies on the world stage was a “right” earned by Jamaicans by their performances over the years.
“We celebrate the Olympic values of commitment, courage and determination exemplified in our Olympic Expresses and applaud them for yet again demonstrating that the world stage is ours as of right but understanding that personal aspiration, hard work and dedication precede and make possible the attainment and enjoyment of that right.”
The three women will be looking to achieve the improbable by going for a sweep in the 200m to add to the 100m success. The final of the 200m will be run on Thursday at 9:35 pm.