KINGSTON, Jamaica (June 2) — Shericka Jackson ran the third-fastest time in history over the 200 meters after clocking a blistering 21.55 seconds to complete the sprint double at the 2022 Jamaica National Championship on Sunday (26).
Jackson, who promised to do something special in this event after she won the 100m title on Friday, revealed that she knew something good was coming, but she didn’t know that it would have been so fast.
“I know I had something special, but I didn’t know that it was this special,” Jackson said after her blistering run.
The winning time bettered the previous world-leading time of 21.77 seconds performance of Abby Steiner, who clocked that time earlier on Sunday to win the 200m title at the 2022 USATF Championships at Hayward Field.
Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah was second in 22.05 secs with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce running 22.14 secs for third place.
“21.55 is no joke,” Fraser-Pryce said in her post-race interview.
Only world record holder Florence Griffith-Joyner at 21.34 and Olympic double-double champion Thompson-Herah at 21.53 secs have gone faster than Jackson in the 200m. Thompson-Herah holds the national record, but the time clocked by Jackson on Sunday is the stadium record.
With the victory on Sunday, the Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist completed her first-ever national championships sprint double after running 10.77 seconds to win the 100m on Friday night (24).
Jackson will now head to the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, next month as one of the leading contenders to win the women’s 100m and 200m sprint double.
The men’s 200m went to Andrew Hudson, the American-born sprinter who recently switched his allegiance to represent Jamaica. Hudson, whose father is from the Caribbean island, recorded 20.10 seconds to beat Yohan Blake (20.31) and Nigel Ellis (20.41).
