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TOKYO (AP) — It was billed as a star-studded race that anybody may win.
As 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 most recent 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 quite a bit to me to be in that historical past, to be in that work-hard e book,” mentioned Thompson-Herah, who spent a lot of 2021 ailing with an Achilles damage and didn’t attain high kind till she obtained to Japan.
It marked the second time in 4 nights that Thompson-Herah has gained a dash and recorded a time that fell wanting solely the late Florence Griffith Joyner’s hallowed, 33-year-old world data. The 200 document is 21.34.
Within the 100 meters, Thompson-Herah began pointing on the clock a number of steps earlier than the end line and completed in 10.61, which was good for the Olympic document however not Flo Jo’s total mark of 10.49.
Within the 200, Thompson-Herah ran laborious all over 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’d left all of it on the monitor.
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 girls’s 4×100-meter relay this weekend.
“By the Olympic end, I’ll in all probability see what I’ve performed,” mentioned the 29-year-old, who grew up in Banana Floor on the southern facet of the island. “At this second, I’m 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 didn’t 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.
Shaune Miller-Uibo, who targeted on the 200 after successful 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 potential in Tokyo. She gained the bronze by .07 seconds.
“It feels superb as a result of I actually labored for that one,” Thomas mentioned. “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. Assessments ordered by World Athletics discovered she and her teammate, sixth-place finisher Beatrice Maslingi, had excessive pure testosterone, which meant they fell beneath the identical rules 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 document for the third time in every week, and regarded shocked when she crossed the end line.
“I got here right here for the expertise,” she mentioned. “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 could possibly be a really quick monitor.
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 document 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 obtained three possibilities on the world document of 6.19 meters. He couldn’t clear it, and so made due with a gold medal and a soar of 6.02.
The ladies’s lengthy soar 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 look forward to its second gold medal of the meet, and it was captured by Athing Mu within the 800 meters. In her preliminary warmth, the monitor announcer butchered her identify. She’ll must brush up for Mu’s medal ceremony Wednesday. (It’s 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 mentioned goodbye, Allyson Felix lastly mentioned hey to the Olympic monitor. She simply gained her 400-meter warmth on step one to what could possibly be a girls’s document — 10 Olympic medals.
American Noah Lyles additionally mentioned hello, however it wasn’t all nice.
After constructing a snug 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 if 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 mentioned.
There will probably be no cruise management when he traces 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 fingers throughout his nametag when he certified.
The world would possibly get to know him quickly.
As for the ladies’s champ at 200 meters — she not wants an introduction.
“It means quite a bit to me as a result of I’ve been by means of quite a bit,” Thompson-Herah mentioned. “Though I don’t have to inform my story, this tells my story.”
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