Shericka Jackson is good enough to break the 100m and 200m sprint world record, according to coach Stephen Francis. Jackson is the third-fastest woman ever in the 200m at 21.55 seconds and the joint-11th fastest over 100m with 10.76 secs.
The Olympic 100m bronze medalist in Tokyo last summer is coming off a very fruitful 2021 campaign after stepping down in distance from the 400m to run the 100m and 200m events.
So far this season she’s been in even more dominant form, beating the Olympic double-double sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah twice over 200m and also easily dispatched the world 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the very fast half-lap at the Jamaica National Championships last month.
Her spanking winning time to win the Jamaica trials in Kingston, is the fastest in the world this year and third quickest ever behind Florence Griffith-Joyner (21.34) and Thompson-Herah (21.53) and coach Francis who helps to oversee Jackson’s program, believes with the right condition, she could challenge the world records.
Jackson says she is being coached by Paul Francis, the brother of Stephen.
“I think she’s good enough that if favorable conditions occur…If she went to Kenya or gets a +2.0 wind like what happened in Lausanne last year or in Oregon,” Francis said during an interview earlier this week.
“There are several conditions in which she could probably go very close to those records. But you don’t know which one is going to turn up at any given time,” added the man who conditioned Asafa Powell to several world records in the men’s 100m.
Jackson will leave for Oregon next Monday with several other members of the Jamaica squad to begin training camp for the World Athletics Championships. Read more: Jamaica names strong World Championships team for Oregon22
The 27-year-old who has broken 11-seconds four times this season has a 2022 best in the 100m of 10.77 seconds which is the second-fastest in the world this year behind four-time defending world champion Fraser-Pryce, who twice clocked 10.67 secs. Thompson-Herah is next on the list at 10.79.
In the 200m, Jackson, the second-fastest woman alive in the event, sits atop the world list for 2022 and is followed by American sprint sensation Abby Steiner (21.77).
The World Athletics Championships 2022 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, will begin on 15 July and runs through 24 July.
