KINGSTON, Jamaica — Olympic medallist Ato Boldon thinks Elaine Thompson-Herah’s track and field career is all but over as she will not be able to get back to the form that saw her become the second-fastest woman ever in the 100m and the only woman to win back-to-back sprint doubles at the Olympic Games.

Thompson-Herah, who has battled foot injuries for a number of years, cut her season short after just two races this year and will be unable to defend her titles in Paris, France when the track and field schedule gets going later this week. Boldon, however, thinks this is it for the woman who ran 10.54 seconds in late August 2022 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

“I think more than anything else, it’s that she, her body, physically, is done,” a blunt Boldon said last week during an episode of the LetsRun.com Track Talk Podcast.

The four-time Olympic medallist for Trinidad and Tobago compared her attempts to come back with her compatriot Asafa Powell’s attempt to get 100 sub-10 seconds times in the men’s 100m.

“I remember when Asafa Powell was forever on 99 or 98 sub 10 seconds, and you know, he was going after this last two sub 10s to get the 100, it’s never gonna happen,” Boldon said.

Powell has run 97 sub-10 seconds 100m in his career —by far the most by any man.

Boldon, who has never backed down from controversy, says he is expecting to be challenged. “You can call me what you want. I know the 100m (and) when the body has had enough, when it’s done, it’s done.”

No matter how close the next fast race is, he argues, “It’s over”.

Boldon noted, however, that Thompson-Herah’s legacy will always be there.

“I look at Elaine, and I go, she has done things that nobody else has done, she’s in a club of one with her double double at the last two Olympic Games. But I don’t think she’s coming back. I don’t. I have appreciated her, I have, I will give her all her flowers, don’t think she’s coming back. Not with that injury, not with where she came from 10.5,” he said.

— Paul A Reid