Tokyo Olympics

Brilliant Thompson-Herah leads Jamaican sweep in Olympic women’s 100 meters

Reuters

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Brilliant Thompson-Herah leads Jamaican sweep in Olympic women’s 100 meters

VICTORY. Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica celebrates winning a gold medal in the Athletics Women's 100 meters of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

Elaine Thompson-Herah posts an amazing 10.61 seconds to become the second fastest woman in history

Defending champion Elaine Thompson-Herah led home a Jamaican clean sweep in the Olympic women’s 100 meters final on Saturday, July 31, posting an amazing 10.61 seconds to become the second fastest woman in history.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who had been seeking a third gold in the event, took silver in 10.74 with Shericka Jackson third in 10.76 at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium.

Thompson-Herah’s Olympic record time has been beaten only by Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 1988 world record of 10.49 – though the American also ran a 10.61.

Fraser-Pryce, 34, took time away from the sport to have a baby but arrived in Tokyo on the back of a sizzling 10.63 run – the fastest time this year.

She started the race strongly, nosing ahead of the field but Thompson-Herah caught up and after the pair raced neck and neck it was the latter who surged ahead with about 40 meters remaining.

Thompson-Herah, wearing a glittering headband, started celebrating before she crossed the line with her left hand raised and she continued her sprint for some distance before lying on the track in jubilation.

The organizers added to the mood of the evening by switching off the lights and lighting up the 100-meter stretch of the track before introducing the eight sprinters, and six of them finished in under 11 seconds in a blistering race.

Fraser-Pryce, who was looking to add to her 100 meter wins in 2008 and 2012, had clocked 10.73 to top the semi-final time lists but was unable to improve on that mark.

Jamaica also swept the women’s 100 meters medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!