Shericka Jackson, who earned 100m bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, will not run the 100m at the Paris Olympics, according to Team Jamaica officials.
No reason was given for the withdrawal beyond focusing on the 200m, which is Jackson’s specialty.
Jackson is Jamaica’s fastest 100m runner this year — she posted a time of 10.84 seconds at the Jamaican Olympic Trials — but has elected to sit out the race in Paris. Shashalee Forbes will compete for Jamaica in the 100m alongside Tia Clayton and eight-time Olympic medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Forbes finished fourth at Jamaican trials and has a season’s best of 11.03 seconds.
Jackson is still expected to compete in the 200m, where she enters as the reigning world champion and second-fastest all time at 21.41 seconds.
Jackson figured as a surefire gold medal contender in the 100m, and her absence will provide a major boost to American Sha’Carri Richardson, St. Lucian Julien Alfred and Fraser-Pryce, all of whom are slated to run.
The women’s 100m competition in Paris gets underway at 5:50 a.m. ET. Richardson will compete in her first Olympic event — and now she’ll do so without one of her top challengers, making her even more of a prohibitive favorite in the event.
SEE MORE: U.S. Trials: Sha’Carri Richardson earns 100m Olympic berth
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