Thompson Herah runs season’s best despite hamstring issues

DESPITE concerns over her health, defending Commonwealth Games women’s sprint double champion Elaine Thompson-Herah ran a season’s best 10.91 seconds (0.9m/s) to break the women’s 100m meeting record at the 76th Boris Hanžeković Memorial, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting at Sports Park Mladost in Zagreb, Croatia, on Friday.

There were questions about her fitness after she withdrew from the women’s 100m final at last weekend’s Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) National Championships at the National Stadium.

She answered many of those concerns by leading three Jamaicans who broke meeting records, including newly crowned national 400m champion Stacey Ann Williams, who ran a personal best 49.48 seconds, and Rushell Clayton, who lowered her own 400m hurdles meeting record.

National men’s long jump champion Tajay Gayle was third with 8.18m (0.3m/s), while Rajindra Campbell had opened Jamaica’s success on Thursday when he won the men’s shot put with a national record 22.43m.

Thompson-Herah, who held off compatriot Brianna Lyston for the win, said it was not easy but she was happy to be pain free after the race.

“I’m having a little hamstring issue, but I’m just grateful that there was no pain,” she said. “So I was running with my hamstring and not my brain. So I’m healthy, I’m happy that I crossed the line without any pain, so I’m grateful. I’m satisfied, I’m just rebuilding back, doing some races.”

She said she was not too interested in her time, which broke the previous meeting record of 10.92 seconds set by Bulgaria’s Anelia Nuneva in 1991, but only in the technical aspects of her race.

“I don’t care about the time, I just care about execution,” she said. “I’m still working on small stuff. This win is a small and a big win also, so I’m just grateful. Definitely, I’m still very ambitious, but as I said this is a rebuilding. I’m not focusing too much on the championship, just rebuilding to get back to where I was.”

Lyston, who was competing in Europe for the third time in just over a week after winning in the Netherlands on Sunday, was second in a season’s best-equalling 10.94 seconds, while Poland’s Ewa Swoboda was third in a season’s best 10.98 seconds.

Williams lowered her personal best from 49.59 seconds, set at last year’s World Championships in Tokyo, to move to seventh on Jamaica’s all-time list and fifth in the world this year. She also erased her own meeting record of 50.00 seconds, set in 2024.

Williams, who won her first senior national title last week, said she had expected to run fast based on her preparation.

“I am pretty happy with my performance today, I was already the record holder for this meet and today again with a lower personal best. I have been working, practising my race model, so I expected this performance today,” Williams said.

While admitting she disliked the long trips to competitions, she said she still had two more meets in Europe.

“I will compete in Paris this Sunday, and probably Commonwealth Games”, she said. “I didn’t handle the travel from Jamaica so well, I am not a fan of the travelling, but I gotta do what I got to do.”

Great Britain’s Yemi Mary John was second in 50.33 seconds, while Egypt’s Bassant Hemida was third in 50.77 seconds.

Clayton, who skipped last weekend’s National Championships, comfortably won the 400m hurdles in 53.54 seconds to lower her own meeting record of 53.89 seconds, set in 2022.

Paulien Couckuyt of Belgium was second in a personal best 54.32 seconds, with Portugal’s Fatoumata Binta Diallo third in 54.55 seconds.

“Oh, I think I had an idea about my previous record, but I was so focused on this race. It was so hot and I wanted to finish the race healthy, I finished it with a meeting record, which is pretty awesome,” Clayton said.

Her aim was to win every time she raced.

World leader Emma Zapletalova was a surprise fifth, but Clayton said she was confident every time they stepped on the track.

“I’m never surprised to win, I’m also as good as her [Zapletalova],” she said. “Every time we step on the track we know everyone could win; she won last time, today I won this one.”

Gayle jumped 8.18m (0.3m/s) to finish third in the men’s long jump, won by Uzbekistan’s Anvar Anvarov with a national record 8.29m (0.7m/s). Serbia’s Luka Boškovic was second with a lifetime best 8.23m.