KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Wormen’s 200-meter world champion Shericka Jackson said she was satisfied with her achievements during the international outdoor season and ended the year healthy. However, she failed to break the long-standing world of deceased American sprint queen Florence Griffith-Joyner.
The 29-year-old Jamaican sprinter had set her sights on breaking the women’s world 200 record of 21.34 seconds set by Griffith-Joyner at the Olympic Games 35 years ago in Seoul, South Korea, and got to within seven-hundredths of a second when she retained her world title last month in the Hungarian capital of Budapest.
“I’m feeling good,” she said in a recent interview following the World Athletics Diamond League finals, where she completed the sprint double with wins in the 100 and 200.
“I said in a previous interview that if I don’t get it (the 200 world record), I’m okay, but if I do get it, it’s a plus. I didn’t get it this year, and I’m okay and happy. I’m still grateful for being healthy and I was so consistent. I only ran 21.4 once last season, and to be able to run three this year, I’m feeling good.”
“The 200 at the World Championships was the high point of my season. I knew I was in pretty good shape but didn’t know I would run that fast.”
Apart from her run at the World Championships, Jackson also ran 21.48 at the Diamond League meet in Brussels. She is edging closer and now has three of the four fastest times in the women’s 200, but she is not yet ready to make any predictions for the 2024 Olympics in France.
“Honestly, I haven’t thought about the Olympics yet,” she said. “I just take it one season at a time. I’m healthy right now, and I have probably a week’s break, so I want to enjoy that.
“I’ve been so focused on doing well this season, and now I want to focus on having my break, and then I’ll return to the drawing board.”
and then 