Due to her recent withdrawal from the 200-meter event at the Jamaica Olympic trials and her ongoing injury problems, double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah is in danger of missing the Olympic Games in Paris.
The sprint icon’s historic quest to become the first female track athlete to win sprint double titles at three different Olympic Games in Paris is sadly over, as it has been confirmed that she will only compete in the 100m at the trials.
Similarly, Thompson-Herah needs to qualify for the Jamaican Olympic team in the 100 meters, and with her Season’s Best (SB) of 11.30 seconds and her injury setback, her chances of qualifying for Paris are slim.
The Jamaican track queen, who made history in Rio 2016 by becoming the first female to win sprint double titles since Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988, suffered an Achilles tendon injury that hindered her performance in both the 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Championships.
She did, however, return to peak performance at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, where she won the 100-meter title in 10.61 seconds, setting a new Olympic record, and winning the 200-meter title in 21.53 seconds, setting a new Personal Best (PB) and National Record (NR). In the 4 × 100m relay, she secured her third gold medal, making her the third sprinter to achieve an Olympic sprinting triple behind Usain Bolt and Griffith-Joyner.
Thompson-Herah had a difficult time in 2022 and 2023 because of recurring injuries that interfered with her training schedule to the point where she thought about calling it quits early.
She finished her 2023 campaign with a time of 10.79 seconds at the Eugene Diamond League, demonstrating her tough cookie nature. She proved during her late-season comeback that she had conquered her injury problems and was prepared to reclaim her position atop the women’s sprinting world in Paris.
