2023 BLAZING IN BUDAPEST
16 16. 2015 4x400 women’s upset: The world should have seen this coming. Shericka Jackson, Chrisne Day, Stephennie‐Ann McPherson and Novlene Williams had finished 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th in the individual 400‐metre final but eyes were dazzled by a star‐studded USA team including the outstanding Allyson Felix. Everyone got the memo as soon as Day outpaced 2009 champion Sanya Richards‐ Ross on the first leg and aer Jackson opened up on leg 2. trouble overtook the favourites. The slim Jamaican rose to the occasion and set a personal best of 12.57 seconds in the final, where her older sister Shermaine was seventh. Jamaica’s second world champion. Bale hardened on the US college circuit, she first won the World University Games and in each round in Beijing, she stayed calm as 17 17. 2017 McLeod’s gold: Held for the first me in London, England, the 2017 World Championship was a watershed had, however, done her job by restricng the damage. Her leg gave Williams a fighng chance and she took it. Running like the veteran she was, she closed on World Indoor champion Francena McCorory and pounced with 40 metres to go, crossing the line with the baton alo. Jackson and Day went berserk when the deed was done, jumping up and down with eyes almost popping out of their heads. Felix struck back for the USA by catching, passing and outdistancing McPherson with a stunning 47.7 second leg with the baton. McPherson
19 19. 2019 Throws history for Dacres, Thomas‐Dodd: O’Dayne Richards had set the pace for Jamaican throwers with a shot put bronze in the 2015 Beijing World Championships but discus ace Fedrick Dacres and shot put queen Danielle Thomas‐Dodd went even beer in 2019 in Doha, Qatar. Both had been in previous finals but in Doha, Dacres got into second place in the second round with a throw of 66.94 metres and stayed there. on his first aempt. In round four, he blazed them again. His full‐blooded run exploded into a power take‐off, a graceful flight and an extended landing. The measurement was 8.69 metres, seven cenmetres longer than Beckford’s Jamaican record and good enough to place Gayle at number 10 all me. It was over. 18 18. 2019 Gayle blasts long jump: With Bolt gone, Tajay Gayle stepped into the spotlight with a huge win in the long jump. All Jamaicans succumbed to heart‐ in‐mouth disease when he nearly failed to qualify but he dropped two bombs in the final. Firstly, he shook up the favourites with a personal best of 8.46 metres as Usain Bolt took to the track for the very last me. Chilly temperatures shrunk the Jamaica medal haul to just four, but Omar McLeod kept the black‐green‐and‐gold flying high with a polished performance in the 110‐metre hurdles. McLeod, Olympic champion in 2016, was flawless in the London chill, winning in 13.04 seconds. It was Jamaica’s first world tle in the event.
20 20. 2022 1‐2‐3 in women’s 100: No country had ever done a sweep of the medals in a World Championship women’s 100 meters final as Eugene, Oregon welcomed the globe’s finest athletes in 2022. Aer Jamaica went 1‐2‐3 at the 2021 Olympics, however, the possibility loomed large. Shelly‐Ann Fraser‐Pryce, throughout her final and finished with a booming 19.47 metre throw that was just 8 cenmetres away from the winner’s best. In round four, a 20‐metre pu by the Jamaican was waved off as a foul. Jackson and Olympic winner Elaine Thompson‐ Herah duly obliged with Fraser‐Pryce leading from start to finish and winning in a championship record of 10.67 seconds. 21 21. 2022 Gold for Shericka!: Bedecked with top‐level medals in the 400 and the 4x400, Jackson cemented her brand as a converted sprinter in Eugene. Aer the dust seled in the 100, she commanded the 200 final like a queen. She followed For the compact champion from Kingston, it was her fih World tle in the 100. No one else, not even among the men, has more than three. Fraser‐Pryce through the turn and unleashed an unstoppable finish that placed her beyond the stunning me of 21.55 seconds she had done at the Jamaican Championships and beyond Thompson‐Herah’s Olympic‐winning naonal record of 21.53. Remarkably, the 28‐year‐old had clocked 21.45 seconds, the second fastest me in history.
By contrast, Thomas‐Dodd gradually raised her level
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