Elaine is the current 100m record holder – Bruce James

MVP Track Club President Bruce James says his sprinter, Elaine Thompson Herah, is the 100m world record holder after her 10.54 run at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, on Saturday.

James says that the 100m record set in 1988 by late American sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner, more commonly known as Flo Jo, should not stand.

“I believe that Elaine Thompson Herah is the current world record holder at 10.54 seconds because for the 10.49 by Flo Jo, the wind reading was not accurate,” James told The Gleaner. “That wind reading was clearly inaccurate, so the fastest wind legal race ever run by a woman is now Elaine Thompson at 10.54s.”

However, he said that Thompson Herah does have the potential to go faster than Flo Jo’s time.

“She ran 10.54 with an aiding wind of positive 0.9. I believe if she gets an aiding wind of positive 1.7 or more, she will run faster than 10.49,” James said.

Although there is now expectation on Thompson Herah to break the record, James said she has the composure to remain focused.

“I find that Elaine is exceptionally good at handling any pressure sent her way – and as long as Elaine Thompson Herah is injury free, she will perform at her best. That’s what we are seeing each time she steps on the track,” he said.

James said he was pleased with her first 100m Diamond League performance on Saturday as she achieved the only goal she did not achieve of the 10 goals she set for the Olympic Games – that was to run 10.5s.

NOT SURPRISED

James says he was not surprised by the time because it was a matter he had been discussing with Thompson Herah’s coach, Stephen Francis.

“MVP head coach Stephen Francis, who is Elaine Thompson Herah’s coach, had said to me before the Olympics that she would run 10.59 at the Olympics” James said. “When she ran 10.61 at the Olympics, we realised that had to do again with the wind reading because she ran with a negative -0.6 wind. So we expected that with better conditions, she would run a faster time ,and she was able to do so with the positive 0.9 at Eugene.

“So based on what Stephen Francis had indicated, I anticipated that he knew what he was talking about, and that was what she did.”

He said Thompson Herah has grown over the years, and from her second-place finish in the 200m at the 2015 World Championship, with a time of 21.66s, which was just two hundredths of a second outside of the 21.64, which was a national record by held Merlene Ottey before Thompson Herah ran 21.53 in Tokyo, he knew she was destined for greatness in athletics.

“She has grown tremendously as an athlete over the last six years, including creating history where it (winning the Olympic sprint double-double) has just never been done before, and she expands on the cusp of doing even more [by] running even faster than any woman has ever done before under any condition,” he said.

Although Thompson Herah is closer to the 100m world record, James said the 200m world record of 21.34s, also by Flo Jo, is not out of Thompson Herah’s reach, and if she runs a good race, she could break it.

Sharla Williams