Shericka Jackson (born 16 July 1994)[3] is a Jamaican sprinter competing in the 60 m, 100 m, 200 m, and 400 metres. In the 100 m, she’s the fifth fastest woman of all time, while in the 200 m, she’s the second fastest woman in history.
Jackson started her career as a 400 m sprinter, winning individual bronze medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics, 2015 World Championships and 2019 World Championships. At these competitions, she won silver in the 4 x 400 m relays at the 2016 Olympics, then gold and bronze respectively at the 2015 and 2019 World Championships. At the 2019 Championships, she also won gold in the 4 x 100 m relay.
After Jackson shifted to shorter sprints in 2021 she won bronze in the 100 m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, then added a gold and bronze for the 4 x 100 m and 4 x 400 m relays respectively. That year, she achieved a sub-10.80 s personal best in the 100 m and sub-22 s in the 200 m. With her sub-49.5 s best in the 400 m, she became one of few women to reach such marks at those events. At the 2022 World Championships, she won a silver in the 100 m, gold in the 200 m setting national record, and a silver for the 4 x 100 m relay. She was the 2022 Diamond League 200 m champion.
Jackson is the first athlete in World Championship history to win medals in the 100, 200 and 400 metres, including the 4x100 and 4x400 metres relays. She is also the second athlete in history, behind Marita Koch to win medals in the 100, 200, 400, 4x100 and 4x400 metres at the World Championships and/or the Olympic Games.
Background
Jackson was born in Jamaica. She participated in track and field at Steer Town Academy and Vere Technical schools. She represented Jamaica at age 14 in the CARIFTA Games in 2008.[4]
Her greater progress in the 400 m came at the age of 21, in 2015, when she first went under 51 seconds in June and finally under 50 seconds in August.[3]
2021
Under the guidance of renowned coach Stephen Francis, Jackson switched to the 100 m and 200 m sprints for the 2021 season, running personal bests of 10.77 s and 21.82 s respectively at the Jamaica Olympic Trials in Kingston.
She came third in the 100 m at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics with even better career best of 10.76 s, just behind fellow country woman Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who clocked 10.74 s. The Jamaicans swept the medal stand in the event for the second time in history as Elaine Thompson-Herah took the gold medal in 10.61 s.[5] In the 200 m, she failed to advance out of the heats after she slowed down before the finish line and was passed by Dalia Kaddari for the third automatic advancement spot by four one-thousandths of a second; her time of 23.26 s was not fast enough to earn one of the advancement-by-time places.[6][7]
2022
Jackson continued to impress in the shorter sprints throughout the 2022 season winning three medals at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon. At the Jamaican trials, she won the sprint double, clocking 10.77 s in the 100 m and 21.55 s in the 200 m; her time at the latter elevated her to third on the respective world all-time list.[3] At the World Championships, Jackson won the silver medal at the 100 m in a personal best of 10.73 s, making her the joint seventh-fastest woman of all time, and copped the gold medal in the 200 m in a championship and national record of 21.45 s, making her the fastest woman alive and second fastest woman of all time at the event. With this 200m title, Jackson became the first athlete in World Championship history to win 100, 200 and 400 metres medals.[3] In the 4 x 100 m relay final, Jackson ran a spectacular split of 9.72 s on the anchor leg, but wasn't able to pass the American sprinter Twanisha Terry. Consequently, she and the Jamaican team consisting of Kemba Nelson, Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce earned the silver medal in a season's best of 41.18 s, the sixth fastest time in history.[3] At the MonacoDiamond League on 10 August, Jackson lowered her 100 m personal best to 10.71 s to finish second behind Fraser-Pryce (10.62 s) and just ahead of Marie-Josée Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast who ran an African record of 10.72 s. With her result Jackson became the sixth-fastest woman and third-fastest Jamaican woman of all time.[3][8][9]
2023
Jackson continued her good form into 2023, where she won three medals at the World Championships, including a gold medal in the 200 metres[10] in which she clocked 21.41 s, the second fastest time in history.[3] She also won a silver medal in the 100 m, finishing behind Sha'Carri Richardson. She won another silver medal in the 4x100 m relay final, along with her teammates Natasha Morrison, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shashalee Forbes.[3][11] Before the World Championships, Jackson had set a 100 m personal best of 10.65 s at the Jamaican trials, moving her up to joint fifth on the all-time top list. She also won the Jamaican women's 200 m title, in a time of 21.71 s.[3] Jackson finished her season at the EugeneDiamond League where she became the Diamond League champion over both the 100 m and 200 m.[3]
2024
On 19 May 2024, Jackson won the 200 m at the Marrakesh Diamond League in a time of 22.82 s.[12] She placed a disappointing fifth over 200 m at the Bislett Games, ending her two-year unbeaten streak in the event.[13] Jackson won the Jamaican Championship titles in the 100 m and 200 m with times of 10.87 s and 22.29 s respectively.[14] She was selected for the Jamaican team for the 2024 Paris Olympics but had to withdraw through injury.[15][16]
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