Source: Jamaica Gleaner
Jamaica took its first medals in the Tokyo Olympic Games in a sweep of the Women’s 100m final on Saturday.
Elaine Thompson Herah won the event in an Olympic record of 10.61 seconds, as she became the second-fastest woman in history. The third-fastest woman, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took the silver medal in 10.74s and their compatriot Shericka Jackson clocked a personal best (PB) 10.76s for the bronze medal.
The nation’s 4x400m Mixed relay team of Sean Bailey, Stacey Ann Williams, Tovea Jenkins, and Karayme Bartley, placed seventh in the first Olympic final in the event. The race was won by Poland in 3:09.87 minutes while the Dominican Republic (3:10.21) and the USA (3:10.22) were second and third respectively.
National champion Natoya Goule advanced to the final of the Women’s 800m race, winning her semi-final in 1:59.57 minutes.
Chad Wright, with a throw of 62.56m, placed ninth in the Men’s Discus Throw Final. That was won by Sweden’s Daniel Stahl (68.90m), while his teammate Simon Pettersson (67.39m) was second and Austria’s Lukas Weisshaidinger (67.07m) was third.
National champion Tyquendo Tracey, citing injury on his Instagram page, did not show up for his Men’s 100m Round 1 heat. However, Jamaica’s Oblique Seville clocked a PB of 10.04s to advance to the next round in second place in his heat, behind Lamont Jacobs who clocked a national record of 9.94s.
Former Olympic Games silver medallist Yohan Blake is also through. He clocked 10.06s behind Australia’s Rohan Browning (PB 10.01s).
Canada’s Andre de Grasse, Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes, South African record holder Akani Simbine, and USA’s Fred Kerley, Trayvon Bromell and Ronnie Baker are also into Sunday’s semi-finals.
World champion Tajay Gayle, despite an injury, jumped 8.14m for a spot in the final of the Men’s Long Jump event. His compatriot Carey McLeod could only manage a leap of 7.75m and was eliminated. Cuba’s Juan Miguel Echevarria leapt a season’s best 8.50m to earn his spot.
Sweden’s Thobias Montler (8.01m), Spain’s Eusebio Caceres (7.98m), Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou (8.22m), and the USA’s Juvaughn Harrison (8.13m) are also through to the final.