American sprint sensation joins Shericka Jackson in race for Flo Jo's 200m world record

American sprint sensation joins Shericka Jackson in race for Flo Jo's 200m world record

Abigael Wafula 17:26 - 22.07.2024

Shericka Jackson's serial American rival has joined the chat in the hunt for Flo Jo's 200m world record at the Olympic Games.

Shericka Jackson’s track rival Gabby Thomas has joined the chat in the hunt for the late Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 200m world record.

Thomas has been a threat to Jackson’s dominance in the 200m and now that the Jamaican encountered a slight injury. Thomas believes she has all it takes to dominate the race at the Olympics.

The world 200m silver medallist set a world leading time of 21.81 and has since been in great shape, with her latest victory being a close win at the Diamond League Meeting in London where she pushed Julien Alfred all the way to the finish line.

The American now believes the 200m world record of 21.34 set in 1988 is within reach. However, she did not downplay the efforts of Jackson, the second-fastest woman in the world and the fastest woman alive over the distance.

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“If I can get that part even stronger, I will be really, really hard to beat. When you look at Flo-Jo’s 200m world record her second 100m is insane, astronomical in fact. So that’s what you really want to do: your first 100m is setting you up to have an unreal second one,” Thomas told Guardian Sport.

“I think it’s in reach for Shericka. I think it’s in reach for me at the Olympics, if the conditions are right. The super-fast tracks are now incredible, and my sponsors New Balance have put a lot of development into our spikes. You really feel like you’re getting a lot back from the track,” she added.

She heads to the Olympic Games confident of a win after her exploits at the Diamond League Meeting in London.

Thomas won a silver medal at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and will be out to improve on that. However, Jackson missed the final of the Olympic Games due to a costly mistake she made in the preliminaries and she will also be out to rewrite her wrongs.

“I feel really good. It's made me feel confident going into the Paris Games after that one. All things considered, hopping off the plane and coming into this stadium with all these people was a really good race for me,” Thomas said after her London Diamond League victory.

“This crowd is incredible, it's got to be my favourite Diamond League - it's just so fun. The crowd is incredible, the stadium is incredible and it's so well run. I'm so happy to be here, this was a great experience.”