Jackson 'grateful' with 200m triumph
Jamaican beats compatriot Fraser-Pryce to clinch her first individual world c'ship gold
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
EUGENE (Oregon) • Horns blared and Jamaican flags dominated the stands at Hayward Field ahead of the women's 200m final on Thursday in Eugene, Oregon.
It was almost as if the fans knew what was coming.
Shericka Jackson delivered for the partisan crowd as she became the fifth Jamaican woman to win the 200m at the World Athletics Championships.
She crossed the finish line in 21.45sec, the second-fastest time ever, behind only late American record-holder Florence Griffith-Joyner (21.34sec). They are the only ones to go below 21.50sec.
Jackson, who is typically stoic after races, let out a scream and hugged her teammates after seeing her time.
Compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (21.81sec) finished with silver and Briton Dina Asher-Smith (22.02sec) came in third.
The Jamaicans missed out on the clean sweep they had in the 100m here, but it did not take the shine off the victory, with Jackson earning her first individual world gold medal and becoming the country's first 200m world champion since Fraser-Pryce took the title in 2013.
"First gold medal, national record, personal best and a championship," she said. "I'm so grateful."
The win further cements Jamaica's superiority in women's sprints, which has been unusually impressive because of the country's consistency and parity among the best.
Jackson, Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah have dominated the world in sprints while being each other's most intense competition at major championships.
On the Jamaican men's side, all of their sprint medals at the Olympic and world championship levels after 2013 came from the now-retired Usain Bolt.
21.5sec
The late American record-holder Florence Griffith-Joyner and Shericka Jackson are the only ones to have gone below 21.50sec in the 200m race.
Jamaica's dominance in sprinting has always been extraordinary because of the island's size.
Its population is just under 3 million, smaller than New York City and Los Angeles yet since the 2008 Olympics, Jamaican runners have dominated men and women's sprint events.
But after Bolt's retirement in 2017, Jamaica's men have struggled to keep pace with their female counterparts.
Paul Francis, the head coach of the Maximising Velocity and Sprint Track Club, which has trained some of Jamaica's top runners since its inception in 1999, said: "Men sometimes appear to think that they will be satisfied very easily.
"They will sometimes work pretty hard and pretty smart until they get to that high level. And then they get to the point where they sometimes second-guess aspects of a programme and say, 'Oh, this is important, this isn't'. It's just a difference in attitude."
The next task for the Jamaican women is the 4x100m relay, with the final to be held today.
They have also dominated this event, winning gold in four of the last six world championships.
Jackson, Fraser-Pryce, Thompson-Herah and Briana Williams ran the second-fastest time at the Tokyo Olympics.
The quartet should easily win the gold, and on current form, the world record of 40.82sec, set by the United States at the 2012 London Games, could be in jeopardy.
NYTIMES
