Shericka Jackson headlines 2023 Jamaican Sportswoman of the Year nominations
The fastest 200m female alive is being recognised both home and abroad for a spectacular 2023 in which she raced to back-to-back world titles in her specialist event.
Athletics
Sprinting queen Shericka Jackson is riding a wave of success in 2023 and could still add more accolades to her growing list after she was named in the shortlist for the Jamaican Sportswoman of the Year award. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on 19 January 2024.
The double 200m world champion was recently conferred with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Technology (UTech) in Jamaica and is on the shortlist for the 2023 Women's World Athlete of the Year award.
Jackson headlines the list of five nominees for the National Sportswoman of the Year award alongside Jamaican legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. The list of nominations is dominated by track and field stars with hurdlers Rushell Clayton and Danielle Williams in the running with netball player Jhaniele Fowler.
Ten-time world champion Fraser-Pryce, who announced in September that Paris 2024 would be her last Olympic Games, won bronze in the 100m and helped her country to silver in the women's 4x100m relay in Budapest.
Antonio Watson, the first Jamaican man in 40 years to claim the 400m world title, spearheads the competition for the Sportsman of the Year award. He will go up against fellow track and field athletes Tajay Gayle, Jaheel Hyde, and Wayne Pinnock along with racing driver Fraser McConnell.
Jackson looks like a shoo-in for the Jamaican Sportswoman of the Year award considering her achievements on the track in 2023. The 29-year-old came painstakingly close to winning the 100-200m double at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
Jackson finished second behind American flyer Sha’Carri Richardson in the 100m final before she delivered a masterclass in the 200m. The Jamaican blitzed to a second consecutive world title in a time of 21.41s, getting within 0.07s of the dusty global mark held by Florence Griffith-Joyner.
Jackson drew the curtain on a spectacular season, winning both the 100m and 200m titles at the Diamond League final in Eugene, Oregon, becoming one of only nine athletes in history to complete a Diamond League double in one season.
Jackson could finish 2023 on a high should she come out on top against the other four nominees for the Women's World Athlete of the Year award – Tigist Assefa (Ethiopia), Femke Bol (Netherlands), Faith Kipyegon (Kenya), and Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela).
The World Athletes of the Year will be announced on 11 December as part of the World Athletics Awards 2023.