40 in forty years

When Shericka Jackson crossed the finish line at the end of last week’s World Championships 200 metres final, she did more than just to cement her place among the world’s best sprinters. Jackson’s time - 21.41 seconds - closed the gap to the ancient world record of 21.34, but there was something else she accomplished for her country. Her win garnered Jamaica’s 40th World Championships gold medal.

The 29-year-old Jamaican turned into the home straight ahead of the United States pair of Gabrielle Thomas and 100m winner Sha’Carri Richardson and pulled away thereafter. En route, she lowered her Jamaican and World Championships record from 21.45 last year.

Jamaica stands fourth on the all-time World Championships medal table. Only the United States with 195, Kenya on 65, and Russia on 42 are better placed with respect to gold medals.

Jackson’s victory was the last of three Jamaica secured in Budapest, the Hungarian city that hosted the 19th staging of the World Championships. The other two came from Danielle Williams in the women’s 100m hurdles and Antonio Watson in the men’s 400m.

Overall, Jamaica now has 149 World Championship medals, 40 gold, 61 silver and 48 bronze.

Forty years earlier, Bert Cameron won Jamaica’s first World Championships medal when he topped the men’s 400m at the first staging of the event in 1983. “I was convinced after the semis that I would win,” said the then 23-year-old Cameron to reporters. Not long after that historic triumph, Lelieth Hodges, Juliet Cuthbert, Jacqueline Pusey and Merlene Ottey took bronze in the 4x100m.

Later in the 1983 meet, Ottey raised Jamaica’s medal tally to three with a silver medal run in the 200m.

Jackson was pleased with her performance in Budapest.

“I ran a good race – 21.41 is a time I cannot complain about. It feels good that even though I used to run 400m, I can still do a very good 100m and 200m. I feel like I am a living testimony that you can create something if you really want it and never give up,” she told reporters in Budapest.

Regarding the 21.34, she added, “I will continue to work and I hope I can maintain at least this level, and we will see if the world record will come.”

In a curious coincidence, Jackson and Ottey are the only Jamaican women to win the World Championships 200m gold twice, an honour they share with Holland’s Dafne Schippers. Veronica Campbell-Brown in 2011 and Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce in 2013 are the other Jamaican ladies to bring home gold in the 200m.

The most accomplished 200m runner in women’s World Championships history is the recently retired American Allyson Felix, winner in 2005, 2007 and 2009.