Paris 2024 women's 100m: Shericka Jackson will not run but assures she's still in 'pretty good shape'
Shericka Jackson has decided to focus only on the 200m at Paris 2024 based on her current form.
The double world 200m champion is unsure whether she will return to the Stade de France for the 4x100m relay, having helped Jamaica to an Olympic title in the event at Tokyo 2020.
“That decision was based on coach and I,” she told Olympics.com at a press meet up on Tuesday (31 July) in Paris, on why she opted out of the sprint double.
“It’s a combination of a lot of stuff. And I made that decision not to contest the 100m…and focus only on the 200, and I think we're pretty happy with that. I just [want] to compete at my best, as everybody is here to win.”
How she runs the 200m, which begins with the preliminary round on Sunday (4 August), could determine if the Jamaican star joins the relay team four days later on Thursday (8 August).
“The focus is on the individual event first and then we speak about the relay after…”
In her last race on 9 July at the Gyulai István Memorial in Székesfehérvár, Hungary, the reigning women's world champ pulled up on the home stretch of the 200m. Despite this, she assured fans that she is in pretty good shape to challenge for her first individual Olympic title.
“Honestly, I was only supposed to compete in that event, and as coach stated, we only run a few races in Europe, and I think that was the only race all of us were supposed to run, because after that, no persons that go into the Olympics can compete. I'm in pretty good shape,” said the five-time Olympic medallist.
Her target remains the 200m title over the world record of 21.34 seconds set by Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988
"Given how I have been progressing this season, I don't think my record world record is on my mind right now.”