“Shericka Jackson into the home straight. She has put her stamp on this event. She’s going to go back-to-back for Jamaica. The first since Marlene Ottey. And she crosses in 21.41. Wow, that is a meet record…” This is how the commentator announced that Shericka Jackson had won the 200m at the 2023 World Championship, defending her 2022 crown, the first Jamaican woman since Merlene Ottey to do so. But there is a lot more to this performance by the Jamaican, probably even a sad fact as well.

Her 21.41s run not only secured her the gold medal but also surpassed the previous championship record of 21.64 seconds, set by Ottey in 1991, and brought her closer to Florence Griffith-Joyner’s world record of 21.34 seconds. Jackson was the second-fastest woman in the 200m after FloJo, and the comment

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