Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah ran the second fastest women's 100m of all time at the Eugene Diamond League.
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Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah won the women’s 100 metres event with the second-fastest time ever at the Eugene Diamond League. She crossed the finishing line in 10.54 seconds on Saturday. Thompson-Herah completed a 100m-200m title double for a second successive Olympics in Tokyo. The athlete said she surprised even herself at Hayward Field, beating fellow Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce by nearly two-tenths of a second. Shericka Jackson finished third to repeat the Jamaicans’ Tokyo podium sweep.
Not bad for a diamond league season 100m opener. New PB, NR, DLR second fastest time ever. Thank you all so much for the love and support. Continuous improvement is the order of the day. ? #Hiswill #HisGlory #HistoryBooks #Faith#Fearless pic.twitter.com/MAWniHKgKh
— Elaine Thompson Herah (@FastElaine) August 21, 2021
“To come back with a (personal best) after the championships, that is amazing,” said Thompson-Herah.
“I haven’t run that fast in five years.”
American Florence Griffith-Joyner is the only woman to have clocked a faster time over the distance, having set the world record of 10.49 seconds in 1988.
Thompson-Herah said she was confident of breaking the world record time and shattering the 200m record as well.
“I have so much more in me, so yes, it’s possible,” she said.
Sha’Carri Richardson’s highly anticipated return to the track ended in frustration as the American finished last. She missed the Olympics because of a one-month suspension after testing positive for cannabis at the U.S. team trials in June.
“Count me out if you want to,” said Richardson, 21, insisting that she had more left to accomplish. “I’m here to stay.”
In the men’s 100m event, Tokyo bronze medallist Andre de Grasse won finishing in 9.74 seconds. Americans Fred Kerley and Ronnie Baker finished in 9.78 and 9.82, respectively.
“I didn’t feel like I really executed that day in the Olympic finals, I didn’t get off the blocks,” said de Grasse.
“Today I feel like I did a good job of coming off the blocks and my transition was good so I knew it was going to be a good race after that.”
The meet saw speedy performances across the board, as American Noah Lyles came out to win the men’s 200 metres in 19.52 seconds after finishing a disappointing third in Tokyo.
“It’s a tight little bow on the end of the season,” said Lyles.
“I feel like (after) five sessions of therapy I was able to let go of what happened in Tokyo.”
Olympic champion Athing Mu won the women’s 800 metres in 1:55.04. She also won gold in the 4×400 relay.
“I feel like I’m just running on a high, and just going back-to-back to back with things, I haven’t really had time to sit down and actually embrace it,” said the 19-year-old.
Olympic silver medallist Dalilah Muhammad set a new meeting record of 52.77 secs in the 400m hurdles. Meanwhile, Kenya’s Norah Jeruto won the women’s 3,000m steeplechase and Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei won gold in 5,000m.
In the field events, Olympic pole vault champion Katie Nageotte, won with a jump of 4.82m, again finishing ahead of Tokyo silver medallist Holly Bradshaw.
Portugal’s triple jump Olympic champion Pedro Pichardo continued his winning form at Hayward Field, while Ukraine’s Iryna Gerashchenko, fourth in Tokyo, won the women’s high jump.
The next stop on the Diamond League tour is Lausanne on Thursday, before Paris next Saturday.
