Sports lovers who remember Hurricane Gilbert — which devastated Jamaica on September 12, 1988 — may also recall the extraordinary American sprinter Mrs Florence Griffith Joyner (Flo-Jo).

Less than two weeks after Gilbert had come and gone, Mrs Griffith Joyner devastated the field in both the 100m and 200m at the Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. In the process she set a world record of 21.34 seconds in the 200m that few if any thought at the time would be broken in their lifetime.

Months earlier, at the US national trials, Mrs Griffith Joyner had set an equally stratospheric world record of 10.49 seconds in the 100m, which like her 200m mark still stands today.

Jamaicans remember the 200m world record in the Olympic final with particular pleasure because of an elegant, long-striding Jamaican, Ms Grace Jackson.

From lane eight, Ms Jackson ran the race of her life to take the silver medal in a then Jamaican national record, 21.72 seconds. That unexpected silver medal helped immeasurably in lifting the gloom for Jamaicans struggling to maintain an even keel after Gilbert.

Incredible as it would have seemed to people in 1988, both of Flo-Jo’s seemingly unattainable world marks are now under threat.

In the case of Mrs Grace Jackson’s namesake and fellow Jamaican, 29-year-old Ms Shericka Jackson, it would take a very brave person to bet against her dismantling the 200m world record in the not too distant future.

It was clearly on her mind as she sped away from the field on Friday to take the Gold medal in 21.41 seconds at the World Championships in Budapest. As track and field journalists keep telling us that’s just seven-hundredth-of-a-second off Flo-Jo’s world record of 35 years ago.

Experts say succeeding generations of human beings are, on average, larger, stronger, faster, than their predecessors.

Also, coaching techniques and fitness regimes are more sophisticated and very probably more effective than in times past. And we dare not ignore the transformational effect of technology. Running tracks, for example, get faster with virtually every new design. That’s also the case for running shoes.

In the case of Ms Shericka Jackson, we dare not discount her years as a highly successful 400-metre runner. That experience, muscle memory, strength of mind and body, combined with natural speed made her unbeatable on Friday.

Incredibly, Ms Gabby Thomas of the USA ran 21.81 seconds for silver, yet she was nowhere near Ms Jackson at the finish line.

Inevitably, we are all left to feel that ‘unattainable’ Flo-Jo World record may well be within Ms Jackson’s reach come the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, once she remains fully fit and healthy.

Lest we forget, she has been systematically chipping away at Flo-Jo’s marker. At Jamaica’s national trials in mid-2022 she clocked 21.55 seconds, the third-fastest 200m in history at that time, with Mrs Elaine Thompson-Herah’s 21.53 seconds, set at the Olympic Games in 2021, being the second-fastest then.

At last year’s World Championships in Eugene, Ms Jackson moved past Mrs Thompson-Herah with her gold medal run of 21.45 seconds.

Jamaicans who routinely depend on sporting achievements to help lift the gloom cast by violent crime and other challenges eagerly await the answer to the obvious question: What’s next for Shericka?