The three-time Olympic champion in Tokyo, Elaine Thompson-Herah, signed Saturday in Eugene (Oregon), for the resumption of the Diamond League, the second best performance in history over 100 m in 10 sec 54 / 100th.
For her first competition since the Olympics, the 29-year-old Jamaican did not detail: as in Tokyo, she clearly ahead of her compatriots Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.73) and Shericka Jackson (10.76).
The queen of the 100m has pulled out all the stops
Elaine Thompson sets the second fastest time in history in 10’54! Quite simply exceptional … Only 5 hundredths of the world record
by Eugene on https://t.co/63xdTVLhtA pic.twitter.com/LbNBw1r3yI
– FFA (@FFAthletism) August 21, 2021
Above all, it succeeded with its 10 sec 54 / 100th (wind: +0.9 m / s) nothing less than the second performance of all time, only 5 / 100th of the old and sulphurous world record set in July 1988 by the American Florence Griffith-Joyner (10.49).
After having dispossessed her of the Olympic record in Tokyo (10.61 against 10.62 in Seoul in September), Thompson-Herah can aim for the world record of “Flo-Jo”, over which suspicion hovers. The disappearance of the athlete at the age of 38 in 1998 will not remove doubts, quite the contrary.
“I still have a lot in my stomach”
“I think the record is within my reach, because I ran in 10.5 and I still have a lot in my stomach,” said the Jamaican, who had already achieved the 100/200 m double in Rio in 2016.
“Coming back after a big championship and beating my personal best is something incredible (…) It’s something important for me, because my goal is to set an example in the news generations, ”she insisted.
“But I do not get carried away, I must continue to work,” warned the five-time Olympic champion.