KINGSTON: Shericka Jackson upset Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah to power to victory in the women’s 100m at the Jamaican National Championships in Kingston on Friday.
Jackson took advantage of the absence of in-form Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce to storm to victory in 10.77sec and claim her first national title.
The women’s 100m final got under way after technical problems delayed the start. However, Jackson brushed off the disruption and powered her way to a convincing win.
Kemba Nelson was second in a time of 10.89sec while two-time Olympic 100m champion Thompson-Herah was third in 10.89sec, never recovering after a slow start.
Fraser-Pryce, meanwhile, was a no-show for the final despite clocking a scorching 10.70sec in Thursday’s heats.
Reigning world champion Fraser-Pryce — who is already qualified for next month’s World Championships in Oregon — did not finish her semifinal, pulling up as soon as she left the blocks. It was not immediately clear why she had stopped.
In the men’s 100m final, 32-year-old Yohan Blake ran 9.85 seconds — his fastest time in 11 years — to beat the up-and-coming duo of Oblique Seville (9.88sec) and Ackeem Blake (9.93sec).
Yohan Black got off to a fast start and used his experience to get to the line first as the 21 year-old Seville and 20 year-old Ackeem Blake both booked their tickets to their first ever senior major championships.
Kerley blazes to 9.76sec in 100m semis at US World Championship trials
EUGENE, OREGON: Fred Kerley blazed to a world-leading 9.76sec in the semifinals of the men’s 100m at the US athletics World Championships trials on Friday.
Kerley’s blistering run, with a legal wind of 1.4m/sec, came a day after he posted a 2022 season-leding 9.83 in the heats, the Tokyo Olympics silver medallist’s career-best time setting the tone for the 100m final to come later on Friday.
Trayvon Bromell won the second semifinal in his season’s best 9.81sec, second fastest of the semis, followed by Marvin Bracey in 9.86 and reigning world champion Christian Coleman in 9.87.