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Elaine Thompson Herah
Jamaican Sprinter & Fastest Woman Alive

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Elaine Thompson Herah | (Photo: Instagram)Elaine Thompson Herah | (Photo: Instagram)

by Venesha Johnson | Associate Writer

Elaine Sandra-Lee Thompson-Herah, born June 28, 1992, is a Jamaican female sprinter who competes in the 60m, 100m, and 200m.

She is regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time, having won five Olympic gold medals, being the fastest woman alive over 100 meters and the third-fastest ever over 200 meters. Thompson was born in Banana Ground, Manchester Parish, Jamaica.

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She was a good but not outstanding scholastic sprinter for Christiana High School and later Manchester High School; her best result at the Jamaican ISSA Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Championships came in 2009 when she finished fourth in the Class Two 100 metres in 12.01 seconds.

She was kicked off the track team for disciplinary reasons in 2011, her senior year at Manchester High.

Thompson was recruited by the University of Technology after high school by Paul Francis, the brother of MVP Track Club head coach Stephen Francis. Her times began to improve steadily with MVP coaching.

Her Career

  • 2013: she ran a season-best 11.41 seconds at the Gibson Replays and finished second to Carrie Russell at the Jamaican Intercollegiate Championships. She won gold in the 4 100m relay at the Central American and Caribbean Championships in Morelia, running the first leg for the Jamaican team, which won in 43.58s.

  • 2014: Thompson won her first intercollegiate title in 2014, finished fifth in 11.26 seconds at the national championships, and had a season’s best of 11.17 seconds.

  • 2015: Thompson made her international debut. She won the Jamaican intercollegiate championship again in March and ran a world-leading 10.92 seconds at the UTech Classic on April 11. Thompson set a new personal best in a non-scoring Diamond League 200 m race at the London Grand Prix on July 25. She took silver in the World Championships in Beijing.

  • 2016: She set a personal best in the 100 m with a time of 10.70 seconds on July 1st, winning the event at the Jamaican Championships. She did not make the semifinals in the 200 m, finishing in 23.34 seconds. Thompson won the gold medal in the 100m final of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro with a time of 10.71 seconds.

    She won her second gold medal in the 200m final, clocking 21.78 seconds; she was the first female Jamaican sprinter to win both the 100 and 200 meters at the same Olympic Games and the seventh overall. Thompson won her first Diamond League (100 m) title this season, winning four 100 m races, one 200 m race, and a relay race.

  • 2017–2019: In 2017, she won six 100 m races, one 200 m race, and a relay race to become the 100 m Diamond League champion for the second time. She finished fourth in the 100 m in 10.93 seconds at the 2019 World Championships in Doha. Thompson-Herah qualified for the semifinals with a time of 22.61 seconds in the 200 m heats, but she did not compete due to an Achilles tendon injury.

  • 2020:Thompson-Herah ran seven 100m races in 2020, clocking times under 11 seconds in five, including a season-best of 10.85 seconds (10.73s with the illegal wind). She won two Diamond League meets that were one-offs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her season best in the 200m was 22.19 seconds.

  • 2021: On July 6, she set a meet record in the 100 m with a time of 10.71 seconds, defeating Fraser-Pryce and winning the Continental Tour's Székesfehérvár Memorial in Hungary. Thompson-Herah, 29, won a gold medal in the women's 100m final at the Tokyo Olympics.

    At the same time, fellow Jamaican athletes Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson received silver and bronze medals, respectively. She ran the second-fastest time in history, setting both the Jamaican and Olympic records of 10.61 seconds, breaking Florence Griffith Joyner's mark of 10.62 seconds set at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Thompson-Herah won the gold medal in the final with a new lifetime best time of 21.53 seconds, which was also the second-fastest time in history.

Elaine Thompson Herah | Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce | Brianna Williams | Shericka JacksonElaine Thompson Herah | Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce | Brianna Williams | Shericka Jackson

She was also a member of the 4x100 m relay team that won the competition in the third-fastest time ever and set a new national record to reclaim a title last won by Jamaica at the 2004 Athens Games.

On 21 August, Thompson-Herah won her first post-Olympic race, the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, with a new career best of 10.54 seconds, the second-fastest time in women's history and only 0.05 seconds off a world record. She broke the 40 km/h barrier for the first time.

Elaine Thompson Herah | Jamaican Sportswoman of the Year 2021 (Photo: Instagram)Elaine Thompson Herah | Jamaican Sportswoman of the Year 2021 (Photo: Instagram)

Thompson-Herah was named World Female Athlete of the Year by World Athletics, Best Female Athlete of the Year by the International Sports Press Association (529 journalists from 114 countries), Female Athlete of the Year by the North American, Central American, and Caribbean Athletic Association, and Athlete of the Year by Track & Field News for her historic season, among many other honours.

Current (2022): This season, she won her first major title by winning the 100m gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

The gold came 16 days after the sprint queen finished third in the 100 meters behind Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson in a Jamaican sweep at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Elaine Thompson Herah is on an upward trajectory and even though she is currently the fastest woman, I firmly believe we have yet to see the best of her.

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References & Sources For Elaine Thompson Herah

  1. En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Elaine Thompson-Herah - Wikipedia. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 August 2022].

  2. Loop News. 2022. Commonwealth Games: Thompson-Herah wins gold in the women's 100m | Loop Jamaica. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 August 2022].

Elaine Thompson Herah | Written: August 27, 2022

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