Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, the favorite in the Olympic 100 meters, will focus on the 200 meters

PARIS (AP) — Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson won’t run 100 meters when does olympic athletics startsaying on Wednesday that the injuries she suffered during a preparation race earlier this month played a job in the decision.

Jackson said she will proceed to run her higher 200-meter race, in which she is the only woman aside from world record holder, the late Florence Griffith Joyner, finish in under 21.5 seconds.

The Olympic track and field events begin Friday, with the important event being the first round of the women’s 100 meters. Jackson was tipped as the second favorite behind world champion Sha’Carri Richardson.

“It was a combination of things,” Jackson said. “I hurt myself and my coach and I felt it was a good decision to just do one event.”

Jackson won national titles at each distances this summer and was expected to affix a typically strong group of Jamaican sprinters.

Now he joins one other Jamaican, a two-time defending champion Elaine Thompson-Herah on the margins. Another Jamaican, 37-year-old Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, is competing in her fifth and final Olympics; Fraser-Pryce won the 100 metres in 2008 and 2012.

Earlier this week, Jackson’s trainer, Stephen Francis, told the Jamaica Gleaner website that Jackson “seems OK” to him.

Jackson, nonetheless, said the decision to withdraw was made by each she and Francis.

“It was a combination of so many things that I personally don’t want to talk about,” she said. “Sometimes you have to go through a bumpy road to get to where you want to go. And my bumpy road happened to be me.”

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The 30-year-old won bronze in the 100m in Tokyo and took silver behind Fraser-Pryce at the 2022 world championships. The world champion’s last two titles have come in the 200m.

Last 12 months’s victory got here in a time of 21.41 seconds. That was just 0.07 seconds off Flo-Jo’s 36-year-old world record, and in the wake of that victory, the discussion turned to when, not if, Jackson or his rival — perhaps American Gabby Thomas — would break that hallowed record.

While Thomas has three top times in 2024, led by a 21.78, Jackson’s best time this 12 months is 22.29, which won her the Jamaican national title in June. She insists she’s ready for the 200, which starts on qualifying Sunday.

“I’ve always felt good. I’ve felt good at both 100 and 200,” she said. “I’m definitely healthy and I’m definitely OK.”

At the last Olympics, Jackson misjudged the competition in the 200-meter dash that opened the games, slowed too quickly and ultimately finished fourth, giving himself no probability at the title.

She called it a devastating moment, though she said Wednesday that despite what happened, being at the Olympics was still an excellent experience. She then joined Fraser-Pryce, Thompson-Herah and Briana Williams so as to add gold in the 4×100 relay to her bronze in the 100 meters.