“I’m close, very close. I’m coming,” Jackson, 29, told various media on Friday after being crowned world sprint champion for the second year in a row in Budapest.
Griffith Joyner’s time of 21.34 seconds has been the world record for the 200m since September 29, 1988, when the final of the Seoul Olympics was held. For many years, the highest level in the world has not come close. Marion Jones and Daphne Schippers finished within a few tenths of a second.
With Jackson, who was originally a 400m runner, there is a candidate who could outpace Griffith Joyner in the 200m. The Jamaican won the World Cup last year against the American Eugene with a time of 21.45 seconds and was four hundredths of a second faster on Friday night in Budapest.
“While I’m running, the world record is not on my mind. I’m going to keep working hard anyway. And if I keep up at this level, we’ll see if the world record is there or not.”
Snelste vrouwen ooit op 200 meter
- Florence Griffith-Joyner (VS) – 21,34 (1988)
- Shericka Jackson (Jamaica) – 21,41 (2023)
- Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica) – 21,53 (2021)
- Gabrielle Thomas (VS) – 21,60 (2023)
- Marion Jones (VS) – 21,62 (1998)
- Dafne Schippers (Nederland) – 21,63 (2015)
Jackson considers Griffith Joyner’s record to be legal
Before the race, Jackson was busy by the hour. “I wrote a time on my starting number and that was a fast time, somewhere in the 21.2 range. I also wrote a time for tonight. It was close to 21.4.”
Griffith Joyner, who died in 1998 at the age of 38 and also ran the fastest 100m ever, has been linked to doping. But it’s not like Jackson considers himself a “true world record holder.”
“I will never question the world record. There has never been a positive doping test, so this record still stands. I am the person who set the fastest time in the World Cup.”
