By: Damoy Rowe
Elaine Thompson-Herah became a household name after she rose to prominence at the 2015 World Athletics Championships, winning silver in the 200m and becoming the fifth fastest woman in history over the distance at the time. The next year she achieved a major breakthrough at Rio 2016 after ensuring that the Olympic women’s 100m title remained in Jamaican hands by succeeding compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce as sprint queen. The then 24-year-old also won the 200m that season and became the first woman to complete the Olympic sprint double since the late Florence Griffith-Joyner at Seoul 1988.
Remarkably, those two stellar wins were her first in a major international competition. She had an injury-plagued season following those achievements in 2016 with an achilles tendon injury, which affected her performance at the 2017 World Athletics Championships and the 2019 World Athletics Championships. Despite those setbacks, she managed to retain her 100m title in a new Olympic record of 10.61 at Tokyo 2020 before defending her 200m title in a new personal best of 21.53 and helping her nation’s 4x100m relay team secure gold.
This season, the double-double Olympic sprint champion has faced major injury concerns and has revealed that she contemplated calling it quits after enduring a series of injuries.
Thompson Herah, who turned 30 on Wednesday, June 28, expressed these sentiments following her victorious comeback after breaking a long spell of inactivity in the women’s 100m race, clocking 11.24 seconds, at the JAAA Budapest Quest meet held at Jamaica College last Saturday.
The event on Saturday marked Thompson-Herah’s first 100-metre race of the season, as she had been absent from competition since April 14. Her return to the track serves as a significant boost as she prepares for the upcoming World Championships, scheduled to be held in Budapest from August 19 to 27. However, before that, she will have the National trials to select Jamaica’s team for the World Championships, which will occur from July 6 to 9 at the National Stadium.
Though the fastest woman alive says she’s had to endure weeks of frustration battling injuries and considered shutting down her season, she aims to secure her position on the prestigious stage through her performance at the trials.
During last year’s World Championships in Oregon, Thompson-Herah faced numerous injuries but managed to secure third place in the 100-metre event. This remarkable achievement came as her compatriots, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson, claimed the top two spots, resulting in an impressive 1-2-3 sweep for Jamaica.
Thompson-Herah, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion, says she’s been able to train the last two weeks without pain and is hoping to get on Jamaica’s team for the World Championships in Budapest in the summer.
Being the second-fastest woman in history with a Jamaican national record of 10.54 achieved on August 21, 2021, at the Prefontaine Classic track and field meet in Eugene, Oregon, most track and field hopefuls are anticipating that Thompson-Herah will be able to come back stronger from her setbacks and make another World Championship team.
