Olympic 100m and 200m champion Elaine Thompson will not race the 200m at the world track and field championships in August, her coach reportedly said this week.
Thompson entered only the 100m at the Jamaican Championships this weekend and won, easily, in 10.71 seconds on Friday night (video here). Just .01 off her shared national record.
“It was never intended for her to double as this was said several times last year that she would not have doubled at a major championships before Tokyo [2020],” coach Stephen Francis said, according to the Jamaica Gleaner.
Thompson, 24, now owns the two fastest 100m times in the world this year. The second-ranked woman, Murielle Ahoure of Cote d’Ivoire, has run 10.83.
Thompson also owns three of the eight fastest 200m times this year, which makes it perplexing that she isn’t racing the 200m at the Jamaican Championships.
In her last 200m race, Thompson ran 21.98 to finish third at the Prefontaine Classic on May 27, behind Olympic 200m bronze medalist Tori Bowie (21.77) and Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo (21.91).
In Thompson’s absence, the top 200m runners in the world are Bowie, Miller-Uibo, Olympic silver medalist Dafne Schippers and 2012 Olympic champion Allyson Felix.
Bowie and Felix will try to qualify for worlds in the 200m at the USATF Outdoor Championships this weekend.
OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!
