We hadn’t necessarily seen it coming! Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Herah won her second consecutive 100m gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, with the second fastest time in history in 10 sec 61 (wind -0.6 m / s). She got ahead of her compatriots
Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.74), titled on the straight in 2008 and 2012, and Shericka Jackson (10.76), for a Jamaican hat-trick.
Neck-to-neck with Fraser-Pryce for an announced duel, Thompson-Herah broke away after 60m of the race to raise her arms and then collapse after the line. Despite a slightly unfavorable wind, she managed a dazzling performance. Only the American Florence Griffith-Joyner had gone once faster in the history of the straight line, on the day of her world record (10.49 in 1988).
🥇🏃⚡ SENSATIONAL !! The Jamaican Thompson-Herah rocket devoured the all-star track to clinch gold and the Olympic record in 10.61. She is accompanied by her compatriots Fraser-Pryce (10.74) and Jackson (10.76)
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– France tv sport (@francetvsport) July 31, 2021
7th Olympic medal for Fraser-Pryce
Thompson-Herah achieved the double in the 100m at 29 after Rio in 2016, where she also won gold in the 200m and silver in the 4x100m relay. Her former training partner Fraser-Pryce climbed for the 4th time in a row on the Olympic queen distance podium after her titles in 2008 and 2012 and bronze in 2016, an unprecedented performance. At 34, she won her 7th Olympic medal, becoming the 4th most medalist woman in athletics. Shericka Jackson (27) has succeeded in her bet to “descend” from the 400m, where she was the bronze medalist in Rio in 2016, in the short sprint.
The Jamaicans thus managed a new treble in the 100m after that of 2008 (Fraser-Pryce in front of Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart tied). They will all be at the start of the 200m from Monday. The Ivorian Marie-Josée Ta Lou (10.91) took 4th place, as was already the case in Rio over 100 and 200 m.