Tokyo Olympics women's 100 metres final: Thompson-Herah shatters Fraser-Pryce's dream

Elaine clocked 10.61 seconds in women's 100 metres final to become the second-fastest woman in history.

Published : Jul 31, 2021 18:33 IST

Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica celebrates winning gold medal next to compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who won silver.
Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica celebrates winning gold medal next to compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who won silver.
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Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica celebrates winning gold medal next to compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who won silver.

Defending champion Elaine Thompson-Herah stole the thunder from Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and emerged as the fastest woman at the Tokyo Olympics as Jamaica swept the 100m medals on Saturday.

A gold would have made the 34-year-old Fraser-Pryce the first woman in history to win three Olympic 100m titles but Thompson-Herah broke away from the World champion at the halfway mark and won comfortably in 10.61s, the second fastest time in history which broke Florence Griffith Joyner's 33-year-old Olympic record (10.62). Fraser-Pryce (10.74) and Shericka Jackson (10.76) took silver and bronze.

Meanwhile World champion USA, disqualified for a faulty exchange in the 4x400m mixed relay heats, was reinstated into the final by a jury decision on Saturday but it could only take bronze with Poland pulling off a shocking victory in 3:09.87s.

Later, Sweden celebrated a wonderful day in men's discus throw with World champion Daniel Stahl (68.90m) and Simon Pettersson (67.39) taking gold and silver.

Earlier, discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur became the first Indian in athletics to enter a final in Tokyo after finishing an impressive second in the qualification round with 64m. But former Asian Games champion Seema Antil-Punia, who was competing in her fourth Olympics, failed to make the cut with just 60.57m. Seema had qualified for Tokyo with 63.72m at last month's inter-Nationals. Only two achieved the automatic qualification standard of 64m.

Kamalpreet is now only the 11th Indian ever and the second woman discus thrower to qualify for an Olympic final. The 25-year-old from Punjab, who has a personal best of 66.59m, opened her qualification series with 60.29m and then produced 63.97 and 64m, to finish behind American Valarie Allman (66.42).

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Cuba's World champion Yaime Perez (63.18m) and Croatia's Olympic champion Sandra Perkovic (63.75) were among those who made it to Monday night's final. But Dutchwoman Jorinde van Klinken (61.15), the current world leader with 70.22m, failed to qualify. Also missing the final were Cuba's Worlds silver medallist Denia Caballero (57.96m) and 2016 Olympic runner-up Melina Robert-Michon (60.88).

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Long jumper M. Sreeshankar, who appeared to have lost much of his spring in the last few weeks, came up with a weak 7.69m in the qualification round and missed the final. The 22-year-old, who bettered his national record with 8.26m in March, had a disappointing series (7.69, 7.51 and 7.43) and finished 13 in his group and 25 overall. Only three achieved the automatic qualification standard of 8.15m with Cuban Juan Miguel Echevarria topping the bunch with 8.50m while 7.96m helped two men, China's Huang Changzhou and Finland's Kristian Pulli, pick up the last two berths in the 12-man final.

There will be no Indians in action on Sunday.

The results:

Men: Discus throw: 1. Daniel Stahl (Swe) 68.90m, 2. Simon Pettersson (Swe) 67.39, 3. Lukas Weisshaidinger (Austria) 67.07.

Women: 100m: Elaine Thompson (Jam) 10.61s Oly record, OR 10.62, 2. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Jam) 10.74, Shericka Jackson (Jam) 10.76.

Mixed 4x400m relay: 1. Poland (3:09.87s), 2. Dominican Republic (3:10.21), 3. USA (3:10.22).

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