KINGSTON, Jamaica — Triple Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah has backed her decision to pull out of the Birmingham Diamond League meeting, revealing that she’s still not 100 percent fit despite racing three times at the JAAA/SDF Jubilee Series 2.1 meeting on Saturday (21).
Thompson-Herah made a surprise appearance at the event inside the National Stadium in Kingston, this weekend after withdrawing from the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Birmingham in midweek as a precaution.
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The 29-year-old complained about “some discomfort in training” in the week and she stayed home to test the issues out —clocking a well relaxed 11.35 seconds (-1.7 m/s) to win her 100m heat on Saturday before returning later to post 10.94 secs (-1.8m/s) in the final.
With no signs of being bothered by the injury niggles, Thompson-Herah made a last-minute decision to also compete in the 200m, which she won with a comfortable 22.55 secs (-0.7m/s).
After completing the sprint double, the five-time Olympic champion told journalists that she had been troubled by a sore rotator cuff and confirmed that she had fears that the long-haul flight and the conditions in Britain might have aggravated the problem.
“We all face our challenges and I am not 100 percent fit and I think it was the best decision not to travel,” she said.
“We decided to test it here and it felt better than it did a few days ago.”
“I am happy for the 10.94 seconds, I will just continue to work on my weak areas.”
Thompson-Herah is slated to race in the women’s 100m at the 2022 Prefontaine Classic to be held at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon on 28 May.
Meanwhile, 21-year-old sprinter Oblique Seville clocked a massive personal best of 9.86 seconds to win the men’s 100m, also Triple Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah has revealed that she’s still not 100 percent fit despite racing three times at the JAAA/SDF Jubilee Series 2.1 meeting on Saturday.
Seville, who is coached by sprint guru Glen Mills, the man who also conditioned world record holder Usain Bolt, entered the weekend with a lifetime best of 10.00 seconds, but impressively backed up his promise from a couple of weeks ago by joining the elite sub-10 seconds club this weekend.
After clocking a comfortable 10.40 secs into a very strong -3.1m/s headwind to win his qualifying heat, Seville returned to outclass his rivals in the final en route to becoming the sixth fastest man on the Jamaican all-time list.
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