Elaine Thompson-Herah is the fastest woman alive. But she would far prefer being the fastest woman ever. She isn’t far off. At the Wanda Diamond League last August in Eugene, the Olympic champion clocked the second-fastest 100m ever run, her time of 10.54s just five-hundredths short of the record set by American Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988.
Set to start her season this weekend in Birmingham, Thompson-Herah said, “The world record is definitely on my mind. For me to run a 10.54, that makes me think it’s definitely in reach. It shows you that anything is possible. It is possible to break a Flo-Jo record and I would love to do that. I don’t think I’m perfect yet but I’m working on it. There’s more work to go to get that time.”
Flo-Jo’s mark of 10.49, set in Indianapolis, has been listed by World Athletics since 1997 as “probably strongly wind-assisted” — so, Thompson-Herah’s 10.54 in permitted winds may perhaps be comparable. She hit a top speed of 39.56kmph, between the 60m and 70m mark, but incredibly felt after that run that she hadn’t been at her best.
“The 10.54 felt kind of slow!” she said. “When I crossed the line, I didn’t see the time straight away, but it felt sluggish and kind of awkward. But sometimes a race may not feel perfect, yet you end up running fast. When I finally saw the time, I was overwhelmed, elated, excited, everything.”
It bodes well for her that the World Championships this year are set to be staged in Eugene as well, in July. “I am definitely looking forward to the World Championships in Eugene because I don’t yet have an individual world title,” said the Jamaican, who has five Olympic gold medals to her name, including two 100m-200m doubles and a 4x100m relay win. “The aim is to try to do the double, or even three golds. I felt the track and know what it feels like, so I am looking forward to a good championships. And it’s closer to home, of course.”
Before she continues her chase of Flo-Jo, Thompson-Herah has another world record in her sights. She will run the 60m in Birmingham — the world record over that distance stands at 6.92s, set by Irina Privalova in 1993, and both Thompson-Herah and silver medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce ran faster than the world record mark on their way to winning their 100m medals in Tokyo.
“I’m so excited to race in Birmingham to start my 2022 campaign,” Thompson-Herah told BBC. “I have enjoyed competing in the UK over the years and there is always a special atmosphere at this venue. I ran my PB [personal best] at this arena in 2017 [6.98s], so competing here means a lot to me. This year is a huge one. I have big goals for the World Athletics Championships later this summer, but first I’d like to give fans something to cheer about in Birmingham.”
Thompson-Herah has a tough act to follow in 2022 because she set such high standards in 2021. Not only did she become the first woman in history to win back-to-back Olympic sprint doubles, she was the top performer in the world. There was no let up even after tasting glory in Tokyo with a new Olympic record (10.61s). The 10.54s run came at her very next appearance against a high-quality field. The 29-year-old closed out her season with a 10.64s run in Lausanne, finishing a close second to Fraser-Pryce, and wins in Paris (10.72s) and at the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich (10.65), which was her 15th sub-11-second performance of the year.
“She is an athlete who just completely dominated the sport last year,” athletics legend Michael Johnson said of Thompson-Herah’s 2021. “100m, 200m, repeating as champion, which is very difficult to do, and threatening one of the oldest and most impressive world records in the books, the women’s 100m — we haven’t talked about anyone threatening that record for years.”
Thompson-Herah’s achievements are even more impressive when you consider that in 2020, a long-standing achilles problem resurfaced. She was worried it would rule her out of the Olympics, but the postponement of the Games because of the pandemic gave her a shot at making it. “I was in boots recovering,” she told World Athletics. “Even though the achilles injury was challenging and meant I was unable to sprint or even walk at times, I continued to work. To come back from that and achieve what I did is a surreal feeling and I’m happy and proud.
“Every champion has struggles that they’ve been through. There will always be obstacles and you have to learn to hurdle them — you’re never too old to learn new stuff. I think I’ve learned a lot over the past year, and the main thing is that I’ve learned to listen to my body. Like any athlete who wants to be a champion, you tend to want to train through your pain, but sometimes it’s better to rest and listen to your body, which will help you in the long run. That’s one of the mistakes I’ve made in the past; I’d try to push through the pain.”
Thompson-Herah is no stranger to adversity. In the vastly competitive world that is junior athletics in Jamaica, she was never the brightest star. “I started running when I was about six years old, and as a young girl growing up, making the Olympics was my dream. We have the boys’ and girls’ championships back home, which is like a mini Olympics for Jamaicans. Everybody learns to be competitive there, which we then bring into elite performance,” she told World Athletics.
“I didn’t win much when I was smaller, I wasn’t going to international competitions, but I stood by the sport because of the love I have for it,” she told BBC. “The love takes me to higher places. I wasn’t the champion in high school, other girls were faster than me. But I’m competitive, hard working and motivated because of where I’m coming from.”
Thompson-Herah continues to use competition — especially her closest rival Fraser-Pryce, one of the greats — as fuel. “The ladies are coming out and performing and that helps me to run even faster,” she said. “Everyone wants to be on their A-game. When I ran 10.54 in Eugene, I knew that once I hit that target other persons will say ‘I can do that too’. I know Shelly-Ann is a hard-working woman. And the fact that she is running so fast at 34 gives me motivation that I can do it again at the next Olympics in Paris when I am 32. She has done it, so I can do it too.”
But while Thompson-Herah draws motivation from her rivals, her focus is trained within — on herself. “Every time I go out there, I want to be a better version of myself,” she said, explaining her approach to racing. “I try to compete with myself and to nail every race I get.” If she does nail one this year, she may no longer remain merely the fastest woman alive.
