KINGSTON, Jamaica – World silver medallist Elaine Thompson believes her indoor experience this season will play a massive a part of her preparations for the Rio Olympics later this summer.
Thompson, who won a bronze medal at the IAAF World Indoor Championships at Portland 2016 in March, ran only the 200m at the IAAF World Outdoor Championships in Beijing, where she announced herself on the global scene last year.
However, the Stephen Francis-coached sprinter is eyeing the sprint double title in Rio this summer, despite still waiting on the green light from her coach — and the Jamaican revealed that running 60m races this indoor season was part of the preparation.
Thompson, who ran a personal best of 7.04 seconds over the 60m at the worlds, outlined that the weakest part of her race is at the start, so it made sense to strengthen it early.
“Well it was my coach’s decision (to run indoors), so I just work with him and I got a bronze medal and I got a PB (personal best),” Thompson told the Jamaica Observer.
When asked about her plans for Rio, the 24-year-old told the paper, “I am not sure, everything is based on the coach.
“He is the instructor, he is the bigger man, anything he says, I will question it, but I will work with him and just do what he says.
“My expectations are to run some good quality times like last year and also capture golds and set my name out there again so people can look up to me like a track idol or something like that,” said Thompson.
“My training is going good. I am healthy and I am injury free. So I am just putting in the work and go on the track and deliver as usual,” she added.
Thompson, who opened the outdoor season with a world-leading equalling time of 11.07 seconds at a local meet in Kingston, last weekend, has a personal 100m best of 10.84 seconds and has covered the 200m in a flashing 21.66 seconds, which is the second-fastest time ever by a Jamaican woman behind the great Merlene Ottey’s 21.64, set in 1991.
