FOR the first time since her breakout year in 2015, Elaine Thompson-Herah will be missing from Jamaica’s World Championships team. However, Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) President Garth Gayle says he hopes she returns to the track in the near future.
The 2016 and 2021 Olympic sprint double champion is the most notable absence from this evening’s women’s 100m heats at the National Senior Championships.
It’s the second year in a row that fans inside the National Stadium won’t be seeing Thompson-Herah after she missed the 2024 championships due to injury, preventing her from defending her 100m and 200m titles at last summer’s Paris Olympics.
Her impressive streak at competing at the World Championships will end at five, after appearances in 2015 in Beijing, 2017 in London, 2019 in Doha, 2022 in Eugene, and 2023 in Budapest where she accumulated five medals.
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Since Thompson-Herah’s split from Elite Performance’s Head Coach Reynaldo Walcott last year she had been reportedly training in Florida, though there was no confirmation by her or her management team.
The fastest woman alive, with a 10.54-second clocking in the 100m back in 2021, has yet to run this season and only managed two races in 2024, including at the New York Grand Prix last June where she sustained an Achilles injury and had to be helped off the track.
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Gayle says he hasn’t heard from Thompson-Herah but believes she’s a big miss for the team.
“We do reach out to athletes and/or their agents, based on the [contact] numbers we have, [and] sometimes they [phone numbers] don’t work but we are anxiously curious what’s happening with her,” he said.
“She is a national prize, and we would want to give assistance if needed in any way, shape or form. We too are concerned, because we believe she has a lot more in her to give to Jamaica,” Gayle added.
While no timeline has been given for her return, Thompson-Herah replied to fans on social media that she will return “in time”.
Across both sprints she made four straight individual finals, including the 200m silver medal at the 2015 event. She didn’t compete in an individual event in 2023 but ran in the heats of the women’s 4x100m, which went on to finish second in the final.
Three spots will be up for grabs in the women’s 100m at the World Championships in Tokyo in September. Sprint superstars Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson are among the early favourites, along with Olympic finalist Tia Clayton and her twin sister Tina.
The heats are set to run off at 6:50 pm on Thursday, with the semi-finals and final set for Friday.
Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association President Garth GaylePhoto: Observer file
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