2019 DESTINY IN DOHA
DOHA Destiny in
CARIBBEAN QUEENS IN QATAR
HUBERT LAWRENCE
When the respected US publicaon Track & Field News posted its first World Championships predicon in July, it tabbed the Jamaican pair of Shelly‐Ann Fraser Pryce and Elaine Thompson, the tall Bahamian Shaunae Miller‐Uibo and the Jamaican 4x100 team as gold medal winners. Since then, 100‐metre hurdler Danielle Williams has raised her stocks. It’s a bright picture. By contrast, the Track & Field News medal forecast predicted silver medals for Miller‐Uibo’s compatriot Steven Gardiner in the 400 metres, for Jamaican discus thrower Fedrick Dacres and for Trinidad & Tobago in the 4x400 metres. The 100‐metre duel between Fraser Pryce and Thompson is discussed elsewhere in this publica‐ on but both need to win. Fraser Pryce and Gail Devers have held both the Olympic and World tles at the same me and Thompson could join them with a win in Doha.
Winning the 100m would mean four world golds in the event for Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
A fourth gold 100‐metre gold medal for Fraser‐Pryce would validate her comeback.
Thompson’s path to gold in the 200 has been made easier by the Doha schedule. Tight overlap between the 200 and 400 has forced Miller‐ Uibo to choose the longer event, where she is Olympic champion. On August 29, she hammered the rest of the world, including Thomp‐ son, in Zurich with a storming per‐ sonal‐best me of 21.74 seconds. Though Miller‐Uibo has been removed, Thompson might not have it easy in the 200. She has lost to Dina Asher‐Smith, Britain’s European
On current form, Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson should come away with the same colour medals they won at the 2016 Rio Olympics
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