Almighty women’s 100m clash

André Lowe: We’ve been waiting for this one. The women’s 100m final promises to deliver a lot. This is essentially two races in one. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce vs Elaine Thompson for the gold and the battle for third.

Raymond Graham: Shelly-Ann was very impressive in her first round, shutting it down in the final 50m and still ran 10.80. That’s crazy, but Elaine ran smart.

AL: Yes, Elaine was clearly running well within herself for that 11.14 seconds clocking. She still ended up doing more work than she probably would have wanted in the middle phase, because of the start she had, but that was a stroll in the park for her.

RG: Marie-Josee Ta Lou definitely has forced herself in the picture as she looked good also, while we cannot rule out Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith. However, Shelly-Ann with her lightning start and improved top-end speed must be considered the favourite now.

AL: Yes, Asher-Smith has worked well on her speed endurance and will count on that in that final phase. She will win the bronze for Great Britain. Now on to the question of who wins gold.

RG: I was always carrying Shelly-Ann, but after talking to a close friend in Doha when they arrived at the camp, who told me that Elaine will not lose, I jumped on the Elaine wagon. But I will now go back to what I was thinking originally, and say clearly now that Shelly-Ann will not lose. Elaine will close the Jamaica one-two with Asher-Smith squeezing out Ta Lou for bronze.

AL: Classic wagonist behaviour. I have said from the outset that I like Shelly-Ann in championship situations, and I haven’t seen anything at all this season to suggest she will lose here. She has been as fast as Elaine Thompson and has more times under 10.80 seconds, and has shown that she can deliver consistently under pressure at the highest level. Consistently!

RG: So please call it!

AL: I just did. Shelly-Ann – Elaine – Dina. Put your house on it.