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TOKYO — It was billed as a star-studded race that anybody may win.
So long as that particular person’s identify was Elaine.
Elaine Thompson-Herah blew away a much-decorated discipline within the 200 meters Tuesday evening. The newest dash star from Usain Bolt’s island nation of Jamaica accomplished her second straight Olympic dash sweep in 21.53 seconds, the second-fastest time in historical past.
“It means rather a lot to me to be in that historical past, to be in that work-hard guide,” stated Thompson-Herah, who spent a lot of 2021 ailing with an Achilles harm and did not attain high type till she bought to Japan.
It marked the second time in 4 nights that Thompson-Herah has received a dash and recorded a time that fell wanting solely the late Florence Griffith Joyner’s hallowed, 33-year-old world data. The 200 file is 21.34.
Within the 100 meters, Thompson-Herah began pointing on the clock just a few steps earlier than the end line and completed in 10.61, which was good for the Olympic file however not Flo Jo’s total mark of 10.49.
Within the 200, Thompson-Herah ran laborious during and caught her tongue out as she pushed her chest ahead on the line. No questions this time about what would’ve occurred if she had left all of it on the observe.
Each finishes, after all, equaled gold medals, and now Thompson-Herah could have a minimum of 4 when she will get again to Jamaica. There’s an opportunity for a fifth if she competes within the ladies’s 4×100-meter relay this weekend.
“By the Olympic end, I am going to most likely see what I’ve accomplished,” stated the 29-year-old, who grew up in Banana Floor on the southern facet of the island. “At this second, I am only a regular lady.”
She topped shock second-place finisher Christine Mboma of Namibia by .48, whereas American Gabby Thomas took bronze.
This was a much-accomplished discipline of finalists, outlined as a lot by who did not end on the rostrum as who did.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who beat Thompson-Herah at each distances in Jamaica’s nationwide championships, completed fourth to barely miss out on her eighth Olympic medal.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas, who targeted on the 200 after profitable gold at 400 meters in Rio, got here in final after pulling up with a twinge in her hamstring.
Thomas, the neurobiology grad from Harvard, ran a 21.61 at Olympic trials that staked her declare, nonetheless briefly, because the second-fastest girl in historical past. It fully realigned her ideas about what was attainable in Tokyo. She received the bronze by .07 seconds.
“It feels superb as a result of I actually labored for that one,” Thomas stated. “I fought tooth and nail these final 30 meters.”
Whereas Thompson-Herah is drawing comparisons to Bolt, she joins one more Jamaican, Veronica Campbell-Brown, together with Barbel Wockel of the previous East Germany because the third back-to-back champion within the 200.
If Thompson-Herah’s win was no shock, then Mboma’s second-place end was a stunner that figures to convey one among sports activities’ thorniest points again to the fore.
Mboma moved to the 200 as a result of she wasn’t allowed within the 400, which is her favourite occasion. Exams ordered by World Athletics discovered she and her teammate, sixth-place finisher Beatrice Maslingi, had excessive pure testosterone, which meant they fell below the identical laws which have sidelined two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya of South Africa within the 800 meters.
Within the closing, Mboma broke the under-20 world file for the third time in every week, and seemed shocked when she crossed the end line.
“I got here right here for the expertise,” she stated. “Now I did higher.”
One other contender was the Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou. She opened the sprints final week with a head-turning 10.78 within the 100-meter heats — the primary signal that Tokyo might be a really quick observe.
It’s, particularly when Thompson-Herah is on it.
However she’s not the one one.
Her victory got here a number of hours after Norway’s Karsten Warholm obliterated his world file by .76 seconds, ending the 400-meter hurdles in 45.94.
In pole vault, Sweden’s Armand Duplantis had the win wrapped up however hadn’t missed, so he bought three possibilities on the world file of 6.19 meters. He could not clear it, and so made do with a gold medal and a bounce of 6.02.
The ladies’s lengthy bounce title went to Malaika Mihambo, who jumped 7 meters flat on her final attempt to surpass America’s Brittney Reese.
That meant the U.S. needed to watch for its second gold medal of the meet, and it was captured by Athing Mu within the 800 meters. In her preliminary warmth, the observe announcer butchered her identify. She’ll need to brush up for Mu’s medal ceremony Wednesday. (It is pronounced “uh-THING moh”).
Not heading to the rostrum is Gwen Berry. The outspoken American hammer thrower completed eleventh within the closing that went to Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland, who took gold for the third straight Olympics.
Whereas Berry stated goodbye, Allyson Felix lastly stated howdy to the Olympic observe. She simply received her 400-meter warmth on step one to what might be a ladies’s file — 10 Olympic medals.
American Noah Lyles additionally stated hello, however it wasn’t all nice.
After constructing a cushty lead within the 200-meter semifinals, he put issues on cruise management with about 15 meters left, solely to be shocked to see Canada’s Aaron Brown and Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh busting it to the road to edge him out in a photograph end.
Lyles needed to wait some time to search out out whether or not he would earn one among two wild-card spots within the closing. His run of 19.99 seconds was quick sufficient, and he insisted nothing was amiss.
“No. I went to plan,” Lyles stated.
There will probably be no cruise management when he strains up Wednesday evening in a discipline that can embody Andre DeGrasse and 17-year-old American Erriyon Knighton, who performed to the cameras and ran his palms throughout his identify tag when he certified.
The world would possibly get to know him quickly.
As for the ladies’s champ at 200 meters — she now not wants an introduction.
“It means rather a lot to me as a result of I have been by rather a lot,” Thompson-Herah stated. “Despite the fact that I haven’t got to inform my story, this tells my story.”
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