Jamaican Shericka Jackson will not compete in the 200m and will not compete for the individual Olympic medal
SAINT-DENIS, France — Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson withdrew from the women’s 200 metres on Sunday and will not compete for an individual medal at the Paris Games.
Jackson, the reigning world champion who is the second-fastest woman of all time in the 200, had previously withdrawn from the 100 metersexplaining that it was partly due to a leg injury she suffered in a warm-up race last month. It is unclear exactly why she withdrew from Saturday’s race.
American Gabby Thomas is the clear favorite to win the 200 meters. Thomas breezed through her qualifying heat Sunday, as did Julien Alfred, who returned to the track about 13 hours after beating Sha’Carri Richardson in the 100 meters.
It’s another blow to Jamaica’s women, a perennial Olympic powerhouse that has won 15 of 24 Olympic medals at the 100 and 200 events since 2008.
All of the Jamaican sprinters who won the 100 metres in Tokyo were absent in Paris. Elaine Thompson-Herah, the 100 and 200 metres champion, ended her season earlier this year with an Achilles tendon injury.
Just minutes before Saturday night’s 100 metres semi-final, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce withdrew due to an undisclosed injury, saying on social media that “it is difficult for me to find the words to express my disappointment”.
Jackson, who won the world championships last year in 21.41 seconds (just 0.07 seconds off Florence Griffith Joyner’s 36-year-old world record), ran a pedestrian time of 22.29 seconds at her country’s Olympic trials in June.
Then, in a race in Hungary on July 9, she dropped out before the finish of a 200-meter race, leaving her form uncertain less than a month before the Olympics.
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