Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah, the two-time Olympic champion in the women’s 100m and 200m, came in second place in the Olympic Development women’s 200m at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational on Friday.
Thompson-Herah, who holds the distinction of being the third-fastest woman of all time in the event, competed in heat one and led coming off the curve. However, world finalist Melissa Jefferson of the USA chased her down with about 30 metres left in the race, winning easily with a time of 23.02 seconds (1.8 m/s).
Thompson-Herah finished with a time of 23.23 seconds, securing second place overall. The top five finishers overall all came from heat one, with Felicia Brown Edwards (23.42), Maia McCoy (23.53), and Edidiong Odiong (23.54) rounding off the top five.
Meanwhile, Commonwealth 100m silver medallist Julien Alfred improved to a 21.91 (1.8m/s) Saint Lucian record.
Alfred picked up from where she left off following an indoor season that included PBs of 6.94 for the 60m and 22.01 in the 200m set at the NCAA Indoor Championships for the best ever one-day indoor sprints double. That 6.94 places her joint second on the world indoor 60m all-time list.
After some relay performances to open her outdoor campaign, the 21-year-old improved her previous 200m PB of 22.46 set last May, taking it to 21.91 in her first individual race of the season.
Finishing second in that collegiate race was McKenzie Long in a PB of 22.31, while Alfred’s Texas teammate Rhasidat Adeleke improved her Irish record to 22.34 in third.
