Mega clash in women’s 100m at Diamond League finals

THE women’s 100 metres has been one of the top events on the track and field circuit all season and tomorrow’s race at the Diamond League finals in Eugene should be hotly contested.

The red hot Sha’Carri Richardson of the United States will be hoping to defend home turf and extend her impressive winning record in finals this season.

After an impressive 10.65 seconds to win the world title, the joint fastest time in the event this season with Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, the American could face her sternest test in her final race of the season.

Jackson has been beaten three times this season by Richardson, including a narrow defeat in the Budapest finals, and she, along with fourth-place finisher Marie-Josee Ta Lou of Cote d’Ivoire and Olympic double double sprint champion Elaine Thompson Herah, are expected to take the fight to the smooth, in form Richardson.

Jackson, the world 200m champion, was an early favourite to win the 100m in Budapest and she will be hoping to avenge that loss and will be pumped up for the race.

After her impressive runs leading up to the World Championships, Ta Lou was in prime form for a special performance in Budapest, but once again in a World Championships final she found the going tough and could only manage a fourth-place finish. She has not competed since the World Championships and will be eager to put that disappointment behind her. She is known for her big performances in one-off races and could go all the way.

Thompson Herah is an interesting entry. The Jamaican did not qualify for the World Championships in the individual event but has been showing tremendous form in her last two 100m. After an 11.00 clocking where she was third behind Richardson in Zurich, Thompson Herah has posted winning times of 10.92 and 10.84 since and is expected to again lower her season’s best time.

The fastest woman alive at 10.54, set at this same track two years ago, Thompson Herah will be seeking to make it three Prefontaine Classics 100m wins. In that race two years ago, Richardson finished at the back of the field.

With Jackson having a season’s best of 10.65 and Ta Lou 10.75, along with a very confident Richardson, it will be interesting to see how much improvement Thompson Herah can make here when she goes up against the three of the fastest women in the world over the event this year.

The Eugene track is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, in the world, and with bragging rights at stake, this is a very interesting way to end the season with the Olympic Games in Paris, France, set for next year.