Legendary Jamaican sprinters Fraser-Pryce, Jackson withdraw from key events at Paris Olympics

Final week, Jackson introduced that she was withdrawing from the 100m in Paris to “defend my physique.” This got here as Jackson’s well being was in query after pulling up in a July race in Hungary. Jackson declared that she wished to focus solely on the 200m, which started Sunday with preliminary heats.

However as Sunday’s competitors launched, so did one other big-ticket information merchandise: Jackson was pulling out of the 200m, too. No fast motive was given. Jackson’s absence within the 200m offers a big enhance to American Gabby Thomas, who took 200m bronze in Tokyo and entered these Olympics because the 2024 world chief with a time of 21.78 seconds.

The absences of Thompson-Herah, Fraser-Pryce and Jackson implies that none of these three will compete in any particular person occasions in Paris. However Fraser-Pryce and Jackson are nonetheless each eligible to compete within the girls’s 4x100m relay, which begins on Thursday at 5:10 a.m. ET.