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Jamaican sprint queen Shericka Jackson was one of the athletes who had a perfect 2023 season and here are some of the highlights of her career in the year that is just ending
Jamaican sprint queen Shericka Jackson was one of the athletes who had a perfect 2023 season which will only ramp up the pressure on her in 2024 which will be an Olympics year.
Jackson did not just retain her 200m world title but also won medals in 100m and it was the season she claimed a double of Diamond League Trophies.
A specialist in 200m, Jackson was the undisputed queen over the distance as she claimed wins in all five Diamond League races she competed in over the distance.
Diamond League double
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Her first Diamond League win in 200m came in Rabat, before she claimed victories in Monaco, Zurich, and Brussels which saw her top the leaderboard heading into the final in Eugene, the Prefontaine Classic.
In the Diamond League finale, she effortlessly stormed to victory in the final event of the night, clocking 21.57 ahead of Ivorian Marie Josee Ta-Lou (22.10) and Anthonique Strachan of Bahrain, who timed 22.16 to defend her title.
That was after she had claimed an unlikely Diamond League final trophy in 100m a day earlier. Jackson had finished second in Doha and Silesia behind American Sha’Carri Richardson while she managed third place in Oslo and London in 100m.
It earned her enough points to make the final where she surprised many to claim the 100m Diamond League Trophy after timing 10.70 ahead of Ta Lou (10.75) and Jamaican compatriot Elaine Thompson-Herah (10.79) with favourite Richardson finishing a disappointing fourth.
Budapest heroics
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By this time, Jackson had already retained her 200m world title at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Jackson stormed to victory in 21.41 to win the race ahead of Americans Gabrille Thomas (21:81) and Richardson (21:92), the latter having posed her a great challenge.
Her time of 21.41 seconds saw her narrowly miss Flo-Jo's 21.34 world record set in 1988. Jackson's time was the second-fastest in history.
Jackson then had to settle for silver in the 100m when she timed 10.72 for second place behind Richardson, who won in 10.65, while compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce completed the podium in 10.77.
The 29-year-old was also part of Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team that scooped silver in Budapest behind gold medallists USA.
The accolades
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Following the wonderful season, accolades started flowing in for Jackson whose profile increase even more.
She was named among five finalists for the World Athletics Athlete of the Year Award and although she missed out on the gong, she was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Technology (UTech) due to her 2023 dominant exploits.
Jackson was among the three outstanding Jamaicans to be awarded by UTech during its 2023 Graduation Ceremony at its Papine Campus.
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