Athletics World Cup: Jamaican girls chasing a historic trio

From our correspondent Andrea Buongiovanni

& commat; abuongi

July 16
– EUGENE (USA)

Shelly-Ann Fraser, Elaine Thompson and Shericka Jackson: watch out for Jamaican ladies. I’m in Eugene to turn the world upside down. To confirm himself the master of speed even in the home of the enemy, who has dictated the law in the sector for years. The attempt to conquer the US territory begins today, in the Italian night, with the heats of the 100, will continue tomorrow with the semifinals and the final of the specialty and will go on with the 200 and with the 4×100, where the three will be joined by a fourth partner. . A year ago, at the Tokyo Olympics, over the shortest distance they did a one-two-three, with Thompson, Fraser and Jackson in order. Only Jamaica itself had already succeeded in the en-plein, in Beijing 2008. Elaine, then, would have also won the 200, as in Rio 2016. Double brace, first woman in history: what a phenomenon. To which you can add the title of the relay race.

Pocket Rocket

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Yes, the Beijing Games. Precisely where, something like 14 years ago, with the triumph over 100, the tale of Pocket Rocket began, the pocket rocket, aka Miss Fraser, now married to Pryce. When we say longevity. At 35 years of age and with an increasingly refined racing mechanics, she leads the seasonal world list of the specialty: thanks to the 10 “67 courses in Nairobi at the beginning of May and in Paris in mid-June (but also at the 10” 70 of the battery national championships), precedes Jackson (10 “77) and Thompson (10” 79). And if the last two, in Oregon, are chasing the first individual world title, Shelly-Ann – who at the World Cup boasts a total of nine golds and two silvers – out of the 100 is even chasing her fifth success. Does it need to be said that in the women’s field no one, in a single event, has gone that far?

Record-breaking air

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Never, however, underestimate Thompson, 30 years old and not hear them that, since she is coached by her husband, she has started to go even faster than before. If Fraser boasts a staff of 10 “60, it is she who has come closest to the stinking 10” 49 of the Florence Griffith-Joyner world record: it has resisted since 1988. It happened right at Hayward Field, at the Prefontaine Classic 2021, when Elaine – who yesterday announced a new, rich sponsorship with Puma after years with Nike – printed a 10 ”54 whose echo, in these parts, still echoes. And if just tomorrow, after 34 years, that limit falls? «This season – Fraser said – the goal is to run in 10” 5, even 10 ”4: it’s a time in my legs. I just have to keep believing in myself and in the work I do ». It is nice to remember that the parable of both began (also) thanks to Italy and Lignano Sabbiadoro, where coach Stephen Francis, leader of the MVp Track Club, trained them in the summer, a base for European meetings. Both have remained fond of the locality.

The secret

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Sorry: what about Jackson? The “little one” of the trio (27 years old), at the national championships, scored a double, shooting a 21 ”54 in the 200 which is worth the third all-time world performance. The United States, especially in the 100, in the presence of three thus risk disappearing. Not even Melissa Jefferson, a new woman, first at the Trials in a windy 10 ”69 (2.9 m / s) seems to be sufficiently equipped to contain the Jamaican power. Once they said that the secret of Usain Bolt and his companions was the yam, a root rich in starch, a tuber similar to the sweet potato that they like to chew on the Caribbean island. Of that generation, among men, remains the revived Yohan Blake, champion of the 100 in Daegu 2011, who on the eve of his race used “bellicose” words. The ladies must have copied.