Shericka Jackson She is a great sprinter but until today, at 28 years old, she lives in the shadow of two living myths like Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce y Elaine Thompson-Herah. She has had to wait for Eugene to make a race for posterity, in which she has been 11 hundredths of the controversial and unapproachable world record of the late Florence Griffith-Joyner, which has lasted 34 years.
Jackson came to the World Cup with the best mark of the year (21.55) but he had the pressure of not having added an individual gold in a major championship despite having an Olympic title and two world titles as a member of the Jamaican short relay.
Already in the 100 she had shown that she was finer than ever, despite being beaten by Fraser-Pryce, since the silver came accompanied by her personal best in the hectometer (10.73).
Four days later, the story was quite different, with Jackson just one hundredth of the 1.52-high ‘rocket’ at the end of the curve (100 meters). Her progression from there was such that at times an impossibility was visualized, because there are too many marks in speed and female mid-distance that resist the passage of time beyond ethical and moral issues related to doping.
Jackson finally par the clock in some incredible 21.45 (+0.6), beating Fraser-Pryce by 36 hundredths (21.81) and by 57 the queen of European speed, the British Dina Asher-Smith (22.02)who might not repeat the Doha gold but at least got back on a very expensive podium.
The champion in Tokyo, also Jamaican Thompson-Herah, she might only seventh (22.39) and prevented a second women’s sprint hat-trick in Eugeneconfirming her status as an Olympic athlete well above her performance in the world championships, where she has never won an individual gold.