Elaine Thompson
 |
|
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 June 1992 Manchester, Jamaica |
| Sport | |
| Country |  Jamaica |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | 100 metres 200 metres |
| College team | UTech |
| Club | MVP Track Club |
| Coached by | Stephen Francis |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) | 100 m: 10.84 (2015) 200 m: 21.66 (2015) |
Elaine Thompson (born 28 June 1992) is a Jamaican sprinter. She won the silver medal in the 200 meters at the 2015 World Championships and is the 5th fastest woman ever in this event.
Biography
Early years
Thompson is a native of Banana Ground in Manchester Parish, Jamaica.[1] Running for Christiana High School and later Manchester High School, Thompson was a good but not outstanding scholastic sprinter; her best result at the Jamaican Boys and Girls Championships came in 2009, when she placed fourth in the Class Two 100 metres in 12.01.[2] In 2011, her final year at Manchester High, she was left off the track team for disciplinary reasons.[1][2]
After high school, she was recruited to the University of Technology, Jamaica by Paul Francis, brother of MVP Track Club head coach Stephen Francis. With MVP coaching, Thompson's times started improving steadily.[2][3] In 2013, she clocked a season best of 11.41 at the Gibson Relays and placed second behind Carrie Russell at the Jamaican Intercollegiate Championships; at the 2013 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Morelia she won gold in the 4 × 100 metres relay, running the first leg on the Jamaican team as it won in 43.58.[1][4] In 2014 Thompson won her first intercollegiate title, placed fifth in 11.26 at the national championships and had a season best of 11.17.[2][4] She represented Jamaica at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, running in the 4 × 100 m relay heats; Jamaica won their heat in 42.44, and went on to win gold in the final with Thompson not in the line-up.[4][5]
2015
Thompson made her international breakthrough in 2015.[6] She repeated as Jamaican intercollegiate champion in March and broke 11 seconds for the first time at the UTech Classic on 11 April, running a world-leading 10.92.[2][7] She then ran 10.97 at the Jamaica International Invitational in Kingston, defeating a field that included Blessing Okagbare and Allyson Felix; the win confirmed her new status as one of the world's leading sprinters.[6] At the Pre Classic in Eugene Thompson was narrowly beaten by English Gardner in the B-race as both were timed in 10.84; as of 27 July 2015, this remains Thompson's best in the 100 m and ranks her 30th on the world all-time list.[4][8]
Thompson was expected to run the 100 metres at the Jamaican National Championships, which doubled as trials for the 2015 World Championships in Beijing; however, her coach Stephen Francis pulled her from that event and instead had her concentrate on the 200 metres, in which she had set a personal best of 22.37 in May.[6][9] The move generated controversy in Jamaica; Francis stated that Thompson was not ready to double, and that she had been prepared for the 200 m in which her main weakness, the start, would not play as large a role.[10][11] Thompson won the national 200 m title in 22.51, qualifying for the World Championships.[12]
At the London Grand Prix on 25 July 2015 Thompson won a non-Diamond League 200 m race in 22.10, defeating Americans Tori Bowie and Candyce McGrone; the time was her new personal best and broke Merlene Ottey's meeting record from 1991.[13][14] At the 2015 World Championships held in Beijing, Thompson won the silver medal, behind Dafne Schippers. Thompson's time of 21.66 was faster than the previous championships record but 0.03 slower than Schippers.
2016
Elaine Thompson competed in her first ever indoor race in March at the IAAF World Indoor Championships at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. Thompson ran a pb of 7.09 seconds to win her heat and advanced to the semifinals. Thompson launched herself into the reckoning for the 60m title by powering to victory in the semi-final in a new personal best of 7.04 defeating Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands 7.08, both advanced to the finals where Elaine Thompson earned the bronze medal after running her 2nd fastest time in the event of 7.06. The title was won by American Barbara Pierre 7.02 and the silver went to Schippers 7.04.
Thompson kick-started her 2016 100m season in April with a victory at the Senior Link Up Meet in Kingston to equal the 11.07 world lead done by Morolake Akinosun of the United States of America on April 2. Thompson's time was accomplished in a 0.0 wind reading. Thompson ran an impressive, yet wind-aided 10.71 seconds to win the 100m at the Jamaica International Invitational meet in Kingston on May 7th defeating American English Gardner and Trinidad and Tobago's Michelle-Lee Ahye in a +2.4 mps wind.
At the Rabat Diamond League in Morocco, Thompson won the 100m in a meet record 11.02 seconds while running into a negative headwind of 1.3 mps defeating Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria and Jamaica's Kerron Stewart.
Thompson competed in her first 200m of the season finishing a creditable 3rd in 22.16 at the PreFontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon on May 28th. American Tori Bowie showed good form in winning the race in a world leading 21.99 seconds ahead of Dafne Schippers in 22.11 seconds.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Tilastopaja profile for Elaine Thompson
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Elaine Thompson profile at IAAF
