Photo: Elaine Thompson hunts the 200m gold medal in her first World Championships.
Very few people have it as good as Elaine Thompson. The 21 year old gets to train everyday with her hero and mentor, Shelly-Ann Fraser -Pryce. Having watched the little dynamo defend her 100m World Championship title, it is now the turn of Thompson to emulate her hero and grab gold for Jamaica in the 200m.
The last sprint title of the Beijing World Championships is on the line and Jackson leads three Jamaicans into the final. Veterans Veronica Campbell-Brown and Sherone Simpson will also represent for the Black, Green and Gold in the half lap event.
Two Americans will contest the final, Candyce McGrone and Jeneba Tarmoh and they will be looking to deny the three Jamaicans the gold medal or possibly a clean sweep. The biggest threats to Thompson however are likely to come from 100m silver medalist Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands and Dania Asher-Smith of Great Britain. Both were impressive in winning their respective semi-finals with Schippers looking as though she still had a lot left in reserve after shutting it down, early in her race.
Another veteran, Ivet Lalova-Collio of Bulgaria, is the other person in the final and after running a personal best of 22.32 to gain her spot, will believe that anything can happen with the medals now at stake.
The hunt for the medals however is likely to come down to three individuals, Thompson, Schippers and Asher-Smith. Thompson has looked impressive off the turn in her two races leading into the final and has literally come to a walk before crossing the line on both occasions.
Schippers has virtually matched the Jamaican in her qualification and these two seemed set to dip below the 22 seconds barrier on Friday. It would be a personal best for them should they manage the feat and it may come down to that to get the gold. Asher-Smith has worked harder than the other two favourites to reach the final but has shown good pedigree and will be in the shake up at 8:00am local time.
Should Thompson snatch the gold then it would vindicate the decision of her coach Stephen Francis to allow her to run just the 200m instead of the 100m/200m double.
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