Olympics 2024: Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson pulled out of the women’s 200 meters

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson pulled out of the ladies’s 200 meters Sunday and won’t race for a person medal on the Paris Video games.

Jackson, the defending world champion who’s the second-fastest girl of all time within the 200, had beforehand withdrawn from the 100 meters, saying it was partly due to a leg damage she suffered in a tuneup race final month. It’s unclear why she pulled out of Sunday’s race.

It turns American Gabby Thomas into the clear favourite to win the 200. Thomas cruised by way of her qualifying warmth in 22.20 seconds, as did Julien Alfred, who returned to the observe and ran 22.41 about 13 hours after beating Sha’Carri Richardson within the 100 meters.

Jackson’s exit offers one more blow to the Jamaican girls, a perennial Olympic powerhouse that had captured 15 of the 24 Olympic medals within the 100 and 200 between 2008 and 2021.

All three sprinters from Jamaica’s 100-meter sweep in Tokyo have been absent in Paris. Elaine Thompson-Herah, the 100 and 200-meter champion, shut down her season earlier this 12 months with an Achilles tendon damage.

Solely minutes earlier than Saturday night time’s 100 semifinal, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce pulled out with an undisclosed damage, saying on social media “it’s tough for me to seek out the phrases to precise my disappointment.”

Jackson, who gained final 12 months’s world championships in 21.41 — solely .07 off Florence Griffith Joyner’s 36-year-old world file — ran a pedestrian 22.29 at her nation’s Olympic trials in June.

Then, in a race in Hungary on July 9, she pulled up earlier than the end of a 200-meter race, leaving her type unsure with the Olympics lower than a month away.

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AP Summer time Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games