First, Sha’Carri Richardson ran the world lead in the 200m event at the USATF Championships, clocking 21.61, but was deemed illegal due to wind. Then the lead changed three times between Gabrielle Thomas and Shericka Jackson between the U.S. and Jamaican athletes. Thomas emerged on top, clocking a large personal best of 21.60s (-0.5) to defend her national title.

Thomas ran the world-leading time of 21.86s in the semis but was bettered by Jackson’s title-winning time of 21.71s (-0.2).

Then coming to the final, she took back the world lead and successfully defend her title.

“So I came back from my semifinal and was on my phone, I saw Shericka clock 21.7, and I was like they can’t let us have anything.

So I said I’m going to bring my A game if not at this trials but for Budapest, I immediately changed my mindset going to the final,”said Thomas over social media.

Richardson, who raced to that windy 21.61s (2.5) in the preliminaries, settled for second with a PB of 21.94s, while Kayla White was third also in a PB of 22.01s. Richardson’s previous best was 22.00 from 2020.

Florence Griffith-Joyner continues to hold the world record at 21.34 from the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. Jackson is the second-fastest all-time with her best from the 2022 Eugene World Athletics Championships where she clocked 21.45. Fellow Jamiacan Elaine Thompson-Herah has the third best time accomplished during the 2020 (2021) Tokyo Olympic Games at 21.53.

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