The battle for supremacy: Elaine Thompson-Herah  vs Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

As with so many historic sporting rivalries, many athletes can only reach their majestic best when pushed to their limits by someone equally as talented.

Such is the case with Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, two supremely gifted sprinters who have risen to glory, pushed every step of the way by each other’s dogged refusal to give up a centimetre in the fight.

The 29-year-old Thompson-Herah is a five-time Olympic champion and the 100m and 200m title holder from both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

At 35, Fraser-Pryce has three Olympic gold medals - eight medals in total - including the gold-standard 100m crown won at both Beijing 2008 and London 2012. She is also a nine-time world champion and the reigning world gold medallist at 100m.

Now as each inch closer to a 34-year-old world 100m record, Olympics.com looks at their rivalry ahead of the Jamaica National Championships (that couple as the Jamaican trials for the World Athletics Championships), which take place between 23 and 26 June.

Who holds the faster times?

The current 100m world record has stood since 1988,

Florence Griffith-Joyner, also known as Flo-Jo, became the only woman ever to break the 10.5-second barrier with a run of 10.49 at the U.S. Olympic trials for Seoul 1988.

Since then, many have deemed the mark impossible to beat - not least because of controversy regarding possible wind assistance at those trials.

Even Thompson-Herah admits that she used to think the time could not be bettered.

"A few years ago I was asked whether I could break that record and I said it was not possible,” she admitted in August 2021.

But over the last year, both Jamaican sprinters have edged closer to that legendary time, placing themselves second and third on the all-time 100m lists.

Thompson-Herah’s fastest 100m time, set at the post-Olympics Prefontaine Classic in Oregon on 21 August 2021, is a blistering 10.54 seconds, a mere 0.05 off of Flo-Jo’s best-ever mark.

Less than a week later, Fraser-Pryce set her own personal best of 10.60 at the Lausanne Diamond League, beating Thompson-Herah to the line with the third-fastest time in history.

This year, Thompson-Herah has changed her tune about whether she can beat the 100m world record, telling World Athletics in April: "I think, last year I ran everything relaxing, not thinking about world titles or world records. And if I can repeat that, not putting any pressure on myself, and repeat what I have done last year, doing even better, I think it’s reachable.”

In the 200m, Thompson-Herah is ahead of her rival both in terms of times and consistency. Once again, she sits second on the all-time list and once again behind Flo-Jo.

She holds three of the top 10 200m times in history, including a fastest of 21.53 set last year at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, while Fraser-Pryce’s best of 21.79 was also set last year at the Jamaican Olympic trials in June 2021.

REAR MORE: Can Elaine Thompson-Herah beat Flo-Jo's 100m world record?

Who is in better form this year?

This year in the 100m, the tables have been turned as Fraser-Pryce has looked in unstoppable form heading into the Jamaica National Championships.

On 18 June, she set a time of 10.67 at the Paris Diamond League, equalling her world lead time from 7 May. Both times were set in her only two competitive 100m races of the year.

It leaves Fraser-Pryce as the only woman in history to have broken the 10.70 mark before 1 July in any year.

And the confidence she has gained has allowed her to dream big.

"This season I am definitely looking forward to run 10.5 and possibly 10.4 because that’s the aim," she said in April. "And I think I am on my way to that. I just have to continue to trust that goal and I’ll just continue to put in work.” 

By comparison, Thompson-Herah, who has had an injury-blighted season to date, has a fastest 100m time this year of 10.79 set at the Eugene Diamond League in May 2022, on the very same Hayward Field track where this year’s World Championships will be held.

In the 200m, the reigning Olympic champion is the only of the two to post a world top 10 time this year, with a 22.25 set in Rome in early June. Fraser-Pryce’s season’s best is 22.41 set on 28 May in Oregon.

However, don't sleep on fellow Jamaican, Tokyo 2020 100m bronze medallist Shericka Jackson. While the limelight has many times fallen on her gold medallist compatriots, the 27-year-old is more than capable of mixing it with the best, as she proved when she beat Thompson-Herah in the Rome Diamond League meet on 9 June.

READ MORE: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce races to world lead in Nairobi

Schedule: When and where can you watch them next?

The short answer to the question is soon - this week in fact.

Both Fraser-Pryce and Thompson-Herah will line up at the Jamaica National Championships, which take place between 23 and 26 June 2022.

The preliminary rounds of the 200m take place on Saturday 25 June at 7:40 pm local time in Jamaica (2:40 am Sunday 26 June CET), while the finals take place on Sunday 26 July at 7:05 pm local time (2:05 am Monday 27 June CET).

For the 100m, the preliminary rounds take place on Thursday 23 June at 7:50 pm local time (2:50 am Friday 24 June CET), with the semi-finals on Friday 24 June at 6:00 pm (1 am Saturday 24 June) and the finals at 8:40 pm local time on the same day (4:40 am CET).

As reigning 100m world champion, Fraser-Pryce has gained automatic entry to the World Athletics Championships, however she may well opt to face Thompson-Herah over the distance at this week’s trials in Jamaica.