2021 review: sprints | NEWS

Because the 12 months attracts to an in depth, we glance again on the key moments of 2021 in every space of the game.

Having coated the entire different occasion teams, the sequence concludes with a evaluation of the sprints.

Girls’s 100m

Season prime record

Full season top list
Full indoor season top list (60m)

World Athletics rankings

Full rankings

Olympic medallists

Main winners

Olympic Video games: Elaine Thompson-Herah 🇯🇲 JAM 10.61
Wanda Diamond League: Elaine Thompson-Herah 🇯🇲 JAM 10.65
European Indoor Championships (60m): Ajla Del Ponte 🇨🇭 SUI 7.03
South American Championships: Vitoria Cristina Rosa 🇧🇷 BRA 11.31
World U20 Championships: Tina Clayton 🇯🇲 JAM 11.09

Season at a look

The world document remained intact – simply – however 2021 will nonetheless go down as one of many biggest years in historical past for the ladies’s 100m.

Sub-10.70 occasions – which had beforehand occurred roughly as soon as a decade – grew to become virtually commonplace with Jamaican stars Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce racking up six such performances between them.

The likes of Sha’Carri Richardson, Shericka Jackson and Marie-Josee Ta Lou added additional power in depth on the 2021 world record. The 5 quickest girls on the planet this 12 months produced an unimaginable 22 sub-10.80 performances between them – greater than double the earlier document determine (10, 1998).

And the document depth within the occasion makes Thompson-Herah’s dominance all of the extra spectacular.

The 29-year-old received all however two of her 100m races this 12 months and maintained a outstanding degree of efficiency all through the season. She ran a windy 10.76 and a wind-legal 10.78 in early Might, improved her season’s greatest to 10.71 in Szekesfehervar in July, then retained her Olympic title in a Video games document of 10.61.

After the Olympics, she received on the Wanda Diamond League assembly in Eugene in a world-leading 10.54, transferring her to second on the world all-time record and placing her inside 0.05 of the long-standing world document.

5 days later, Fraser-Pryce responded with a ten.60 victory in Lausanne the place Thompson-Herah completed second in 10.64 – the primary time two girls had gone sub-10.70 in a single race. However Thompson-Herah rounded out her season with wins in Paris (10.72) and Zurich (10.65), ending the 12 months because the undisputed world No.1.

Fraser-Pryce, for her half, additionally produced one of many biggest 100m seasons in historical past, however she was overwhelmed to the title in Tokyo, taking silver in 10.74, and shaped a part of a Jamaican sweep of the medals with Jackson incomes the bronze in 10.76.

Past the clear Jamaican dominance of the occasion this 12 months, Swiss sprinters had been additionally to the fore in 2021 with Ajla del Ponte and Mujinga Kambundji each setting nationwide information and putting fifth and sixth respectively within the Olympic ultimate.

Del Ponte, who ended the season because the Swiss record-holder with 10.90, had hinted that one thing particular was on the playing cards through the indoor season when she received the European indoor 60m title in a world-leading 7.03.

Richardson turned heads through the first half of the season, clocking a PB of 10.72 and profitable the US title, however a optimistic take a look at for hashish meant she was unable to take her place on the US staff for the Olympics. She raced twice on the finish of the season, however didn’t break 11.10.

Whereas she remained the quickest US girl of the 12 months, Teahna Daniels was the highest US performer over 100m on the Olympics, ending seventh within the ultimate, whereas Javianne Oliver – winner of the 60m through the World Indoor Tour – was the highest-placed US girl within the 100m world rankings.

However in the case of the occasion as a complete, 2021 will greatest be remembered for its document depth – 10 girls working 10.89 or sooner, 21 girls breaking 11 seconds, 100 girls working 11.24 or sooner – and for six of the 11 quickest occasions in historical past. And, above all, the outstanding performances of Thompson-Herah.

Males’s 100m

Season prime record

Full season top list
Full indoor season top list (60m)

World Athletics rankings

Full rankings

Olympic medallists

Main winners

Olympic Video games: Marcell Jacobs 🇮🇹 ITA 9.80
Wanda Diamond League: Fred Kerley 🇺🇸 USA 9.87
European Indoor Championships (60m): Marcell Jacobs 🇮🇹 ITA 6.47
South American Championships: Felipe Bardi dos Santos 🇧🇷 BRA 10.10w
World U20 Championships: Letsile Tebogo 🇧🇼 BOT 10.19

Season at a look

It’s not typically that the boys’s 100m is as wide-open an occasion because it has been in 2021.

A lot so, whichever of the eight males within the Olympic 100m ultimate had crossed the road first, they’d have been thought-about as one thing of a shock winner.

However ultimately, it was Italy’s Marcell Jacobs who took the gold medal in a European document of 9.80 – the third-fastest profitable time in Olympic historical past, behind Usain Bolt’s 2008 and 2012 victories.

Previous to this 12 months, Jacobs had spent most of his profession battling a knee harm whereas additionally specializing in the lengthy bounce. Lastly over the knee troubles, and having dropped the lengthy bounce to focus solely on sprinting, he loved a breakthrough through the indoor season, culminating in profitable the European indoor title in a world-leading 6.47. That momentum continued outside as he broke the Italian 100m document in his first race of the 12 months with 9.95. And as he had finished indoors, he timed his peak to perfection outside to win the Olympic title.

USA’s Fred Kerley – who, up till this 12 months, had been a 400m specialist – secured silver in a PB of 9.84, and Canada’s Andre De Grasse earned a second successive Olympic bronze over 100m with a PB of 9.89.

For the fourth Olympic ultimate in a row, the primary six males completed inside 10 seconds. China’s Su Bingtian and USA’s Ronnie Baker had clocked 9.83 within the semifinals (an Asian document for the previous) to complete 0.01 forward of Jacobs, but each completed outdoors of the medals within the ultimate. And South Africa’s Akani Simbine, simply as he had finished on the 2019 World Championships, completed fourth in 9.93.

However they might not less than take some comfort from reaching the ultimate. USA’s Trayvon Bromell, who impressed with world-leading runs of 9.88 and 9.77 in the beginning of the outside season and 9.76 on the finish of the season, didn’t make it past the semifinals in Tokyo. Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, who set an African document of 9.77 behind Bromell in Nairobi in September, additionally narrowly missed the Olympic ultimate. Each males, nonetheless, entered the highest 10 on the world all-time record.

Jacobs, like a number of Olympic champions, opted to not compete after the Video games. In his absence, De Grasse received on the Wanda Diamond League assembly in Eugene with a wind-assisted 9.74, whereas Kerley received in Brussels (9.94) and on the Diamond League ultimate in Zurich (9.87), each of which contributed to his No.1 place on the planet rankings.

The depth within the males’s 100m this 12 months was nearly as good because it ever has been as a document variety of 11 males broke 9.90, whereas 28 males ran 10.00 or sooner – equalling the document tally set in 2015. Continental information had been additionally set for 3 of the six areas: Africa (Omanyala, 9.77), Europe (Jacobs, 9.80) and Asia (Su, 9.83).

Girls’s 200m

Season prime record

Full season top list
Full indoor season top list

World Athletics rankings

Full rankings

Olympic medallists

Main winners

Olympic Video games: Elaine Thompson-Herah 🇯🇲 JAM 21.53
Wanda Diamond League: Christine Mboma 🇳🇦 NAM 21.78
South American Championships: Vitoria Cristina Rosa 🇧🇷 BRA 23.10
World U20 Championships: Christine Mboma 🇳🇦 NAM 21.84

Season at a look

The story on this occasion is much like the 100m: document depth on the world lists in a 12 months by which Elaine Thompson-Herah emerged because the No.1 performer.

The Jamaican raced extra continuously over 100m than the 200m this 12 months, however headed to the Olympics with a 22.02 season’s greatest and a victory on the Wanda Diamond League assembly in Gateshead. Having received the 100m in Tokyo, she tried to preserve her vitality for the primary two rounds of the 200m, each held on 2 August, however virtually eased off an excessive amount of within the heats.

She made no such mistake within the semis, the place she equalled her PB of 21.66, regardless of easing down. She went even sooner within the ultimate, profitable gold in a Jamaican document of 21.53 to maneuver to second on the world all-time record.

Namibian teenager Christine Mboma set a world U20 document of 21.81 to complete second in Tokyo, whereas Gabby Thomas – who received the US Trials in 21.61 – took bronze in 21.87. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who earlier within the 12 months set a PB of 21.79 to win the Jamaican title, completed outdoors of the medals in Tokyo.

Earlier than this 12 months, there had been only one 200m race by which 4 girls had damaged 22 seconds. However it occurred twice in 2021: first on the US Trials, after which once more within the Olympic ultimate. It’s little shock, then, that the 12 months as a complete had document depth.

For the primary time ever, eight girls broke the 22-second barrier in a single 12 months. Between them, they racked up 21 sub-22 performances – the best ever tally for a single season. It implies that this 12 months’s performances account for nearly 16% of all of the sub-22-second performances in historical past.

Thompson-Herah didn’t compete over 200m after the Olympics. Mboma went on to dominate the large end-of-year races, profitable on the World U20 Championships (21.84), the Wanda Diamond League assembly in Brussels (21.84), the Diamond League ultimate (21.78) and the Continental Tour Gold conferences in Zagreb (22.04) and Nairobi (22.39).

Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, now specializing in shorter sprints, made the error of easing down an excessive amount of in her 200m warmth in Tokyo, the place she most definitely would have been within the medal hunt. However she made amends on the Diamond League ultimate in Zurich to complete second in a PB of 21.81.

Shaunae Miller-Uibo targeted extra on the 200m in the beginning of the season and went on to achieve the Olympic ultimate within the occasion, however then went on to retain her Olympic crown over 400m. World champion Dina Asher-Smith, in the meantime, battled with a mid-season harm and didn’t contest the occasion in Tokyo, however salvaged some good performances from the top of the season, together with a 22.04 run in Brussels.

Males’s 200m

Season prime record

Full season top list
Full indoor season top list

World Athletics rankings

Full rankings

Olympic medallists

Main winners

Olympic Video games: Andre De Grasse 🇨🇦 CAN 19.62
Wanda Diamond League: Kenny Bednarek 🇺🇸 USA 19.70
South American Championships: Felipe Bardi dos Santos 🇧🇷 BRA 20.49
World U20 Championships: Udodi Onwuzurike 🇳🇬 NGR 20.21

Season at a look

As with the 100m, the boys’s 200m has been pretty open this 12 months with no single dominant performer. As an alternative, three males specifically have shared the highlight: Olympic champion Andre De Grasse, world chief Noah Lyles, and world rankings No.1 Kenny Bednarek.

De Grasse, so typically a medallist at main championships over the previous six years, lastly landed his first international title when profitable on the Tokyo Olympics with a Canadian document of 19.62. However regardless of his win within the Japanese capital, he wasn’t dominant all 12 months spherical, profitable simply three of his different six races.

Lyles, conversely, received all of his finals this 12 months, aside from on the Olympic Video games. And it’s not that he underperformed in Tokyo; he nonetheless equalled his season’s better of 19.74 to complete third. However, fuelled by his private disappointment of not putting larger on the Olympics, he returned to motion on the Wanda Diamond League assembly in Eugene and clocked a world-leading 19.52.

Bednarek, nonetheless a relative newcomer on the worldwide scene, was maybe probably the most constant performer within the males’s 200m this 12 months. He broke 20 seconds on 13 events; the one races by which he didn’t end inside that benchmark had been the Wanda Diamond League assembly in Gateshead, held right into a -3.0m/s headwind in heavy rain, and his first-round heats on the US Trials and Olympic Video games. He completed first or second in all of his 200m races, set a PB of 19.68 to take silver on the Olympics, and ended his season with a 19.70 victory on the Diamond League ultimate in Zurich.

Olympic 100m silver medallist Fred Kerley narrowly missed making the US Olympic staff within the 200m, however ended his season with a wind-assisted 19.77 run in Lausanne, a 19.79 victory in Paris and a 19.76 PB to win in Nairobi.

Between them, these 4 males notched up 15 sub-19.80 clockings this 12 months in all situations (12 wind-legal) – comfortably the very best ever tally for a single season. And this, within the post-Usain Bolt period.

There have been a number of different notable performers over 200m this 12 months, although.

World Athletics Rising Star Erriyon Knighton, who turned 17 in the beginning of the 12 months, began the 12 months by breaking Bolt’s world U18 greatest, then he broke the Jamaican celebrity’s world U20 document on the US Trials, first with 19.88 after which with 19.84 to ebook his place on the US staff for Tokyo. Regardless of being an U20 for 2 extra full years, Knighton went on to complete fourth on the Olympics.

USA’s Terrance Laird and Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh had been the highest performers on the US collegiate circuit. Laird clocked a PB of 19.81 again in March however then missed out on making the US staff for Tokyo, whereas fast-finishing Fahnbulleh pipped Laird to the NCAA title in 19.91 and went on to complete fifth within the Olympic ultimate.

Girls’s 400m

Season prime record

Full season top list
Full indoor season top list

World Athletics rankings

Full rankings

Olympic medallists

Main winners

Olympic Video games: Shaunae Miller-Uibo 🇧🇸 BAH 48.36
Wanda Diamond League: Quanera Hayes 🇺🇸 USA 49.88
European Indoor Championships: Femke Bol 🇳🇱 NED 50.63
South American Championships: Tiffani Marinho 🇧🇷 BRA 52.65
World U20 Championships: Imaobong Nse Uko 🇳🇬 NGR 51.55

Season at a look

To assume: Shaunae Miller-Uibo very practically didn’t enter the 400m on the Olympic Video games.

For the primary half of the season, the Bahamian sprinter insisted that the 200m can be her focus in 2021 as she already had an Olympic gold medal over 400m, her specialist occasion, and she or he needed to win a second one in a special occasion.

However because the season progressed, Miller-Uibo’s kind appeared to counsel that the one-lap occasion would supply her the very best probability of profitable an Olympic title. She clocked a world-leading nationwide document of fifty.21 indoors in February, then two months later ran an outside world-leading 49.08 in Eugene, breaking the stadium document on the prestigious Hayward Subject.

She entered each occasions in Tokyo and reached the 200m ultimate, however, as anticipated, it was the 400m by which she excelled. She received by virtually a full second in 48.36, breaking her personal continental document by 0.01.

Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic loved a outstanding breakthrough this 12 months. A former 100m and 200m specialist, the 25-year-old set 5 nationwide 400m information in 2021, culminating together with her silver-medal-winning 49.20 in Tokyo. Outdoors of the Olympics, she received 11 of her 12 races, together with the Wanda Diamond League stops in Lausanne and Paris. She ended the 12 months within the No.1 place on the planet rankings.

Eleven years Paulino’s senior, US dash legend Allyson Felix earned yet one more international medal when taking bronze in Tokyo. The 35-year-old ran a season’s better of 49.46 – the quickest ever time by anybody over the age of 35.

Felix’s compatriot Quanera Hayes, who additionally not too long ago returned from a maternity break, received the US title in 49.78 however positioned simply seventh within the Olympic ultimate in 50.88. She rebounded later within the 12 months, although, profitable the Diamond League ultimate in 49.88.

Jamaica’s robust 400m kind continued this 12 months. Stephenie Ann McPherson (49.34) and Candice McLeod (49.51) each set PBs within the Olympic semifinals however had been barely down on these occasions within the ultimate and narrowly missed out on the medals, ending fourth and fifth respectively.

Athing Mu, the Olympic champion over 800m, loved a strong marketing campaign over one lap of the monitor, topped by her North American U20 document of 49.57 to win the NCAA title. After then, although, she targeted completely on the longer occasion.

As was the case in a lot of the different sprinting occasions this 12 months, there was unprecedented depth within the girls’s 400m as a document variety of 12 girls broke 50 seconds and 111 girls ran sooner than 52 seconds.

Males’s 400m

Season prime record

Full season top list
Full indoor season top list

World Athletics rankings

Full rankings

Olympic medallists

 
Main winners

Olympic Video games: Steven Gardiner 🇧🇸 BAH 43.85
Wanda Diamond League: Michael Cherry 🇺🇸 USA 44.41
European Indoor Championships: Oscar Husillos 🇪🇸 ESP 46.22
South American Championships: Kelvis Padrino 🇻🇪 VEN 45.82
World U20 Championships: Anthony Pesela 🇧🇼 BOT 44.58

Season at a look

Steven Gardiner as soon as once more timed his season to perfection.

The Bahamian sprinter might not be the sort to run blazing occasions all 12 months spherical, like a few of his US rivals, however you’ll be able to rely on him to supply his greatest when it issues most.

Other than a race in Fort Value the place he misplaced his footing and fell on the house straight, Gardiner received all of his 400m races in 2021. He opened with 44.71 again in April, improved to 44.52 to win the Bahamian title, then ran 44.47 to beat a high quality subject in Szekesfehervar.

He went on to win the Olympic title with relative ease, clocking a world-leading 43.85 to complete 0.23 forward of Colombia’s Anthony Zambrano, replicating the 1-2 end from the 2019 World Championships. Behind them, 2012 Olympic champion and 2016 silver medallist Kirani James accomplished his set of Olympic medals by taking bronze in 44.19.

Michael Cherry achieved outstanding consistency in 2021. From Might onwards, he broke 45 seconds in all 14 of his races, together with heats. He completed second on the US Trials in a PB of 44.35, improved that to 44.21 when ending fourth on the Olympics – simply 0.02 shy of a medal – after which received his final 4 races of the 12 months, setting a PB of 44.03 and taking the Diamond League title in Zurich (44.41).

When it comes to benefit, Cherry was the highest US performer this 12 months over 400m. However Michael Norman received the US title in 44.07 and Randolph Ross ended the 12 months with a share of the world lead, due to his 43.85 victory on the NCAA Championships.

Past the Olympic medallists, there have been a number of notable breakthrough performers within the occasion this 12 months. Noah Williams received the NCAA indoor title in 44.71, placing him fourth on the world indoor all-time record, and improved to 44.30 outside.

Bryce Deadmon additionally grew to become a daily sub-45-second performer this 12 months, as did Leimarvin Bonevacia, who reached the Olympic ultimate after which set a Dutch document of 44.48 in Bern a few weeks after the Video games.

There have been spectacular outcomes on the age-group degree, too, with Botswana’s Antony Pesela profitable the world U20 title in 44.58 from Mexico’s Luis Aviles (44.95).

World Athletics