Fresh off creating history in the 100m final at the World Athletics Championships for Jamaica, the trio of Shelly-Anne Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson, and Elaine Thompson-Herah have reached the 200m final as well.
Jackson, first up, roared clear from the start to earn a big enough lead to safely ease down as much as 40 meters out yet still post 21.67 – the fastest of the night.
Thompson-Herah rode her luck to reach the finals after taking her foot off the gas in the final few meters allowing American Tamara Clark and Britain’s defending champion Dina Asher-Smith to dip ahead of her – with two-hundredths of a second between all three. But the Jamaican’s time of 21.97 was enough to send her into the final as one of the two fastest losers.
Fraser-Pryce, who claimed her fifth world 100m gold on Sunday, stamped her authority on the third heat, easing down to finish in 21.82 ahead of American Abby Steiner the second fastest in the world this year.
The three women from Jamaica can create more history at the World Athletics Championships if they repeat their form that saw their home nation taking all podiums in the 100m final.
Meanwhile over at the men’s side reigning winner Noah Lyles and 18-year-old sensation Erriyon Knighton set a final for the ages after the two Americans blazed into the 200m finals.
Lyles held off compatriot Kenny Bednarek down the final stretch to finish with the fastest time of the day at 19.62 seconds to reach Thursday’s final while Knighton made easy work of his heat, finishing clear of the rest of the field after finishing in 19.77 seconds.
Over at the 400m hurdles the Brazilian Alison dos Santos denied record-holder Karsten Warholm a third successive World Championship title finishing with blazing-fast 46.29seconds.
Australia’s Eleanor Patterson produce her lifetime best leap and equaled the Oceania record of 2.02 meters to win a surprise World Championship high jump ahead of Ukrainian favorite Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who needed two tries to get over the same height.
Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia dethroned Olympic champion and 2019 winner Daniel Stahl of Sweden in the discus final to win gold in his first major championship.
Another surprise came in the men’s 1500m finals with Briton Jake Wightman taking gold as outlasting Olympic champion and hot favorite Jakob Ingebrigtsen on the final lap.
