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Elaine Thomson-Herah on windy 10.73: 'I have never lost confidence'
Written by Leighton Levy. Posted in Athletics. | 27 July 2020 | 1624 Views
Tags: Athletics, Ashemhiem Stadium, Kingston, Elaine Thompson Herah, Janieve Russell, Julian Forte, Velocity Fest

Elaine Thompson-Herah never lost belief in her abilities even after struggling with an injury that has caused her to miss out on podium finishes at the last two major championships.

That confidence was on display on Saturday at the third and final Velocity Fest meet at the Ashenheim Stadium at Jamaica College on Saturday when the 2016 double Olympic champion sped to a win in the 100m in 10.73 leaving Sprintec’s Shashalee Forbes (11.05) and MVP’s Srabani Nanda (11.51) in her wake.

The only disappointment was that the time was aided by a trailing wind of 3.0 m/s but it was still the fastest time by a female sprinter under all conditions for 2020.

The time was an improvement on the 11.19s she ran on July 18 at the same venue.

“I have never lost confidence in myself. I always pray for health and fitness,” she told Sportsmax.TV, highlighting that pandemic lockdown has had her craving competition.

“It feels great to return to the track,” she said. “You develop that hunger being not being able to compete after you’ve been training for so long. This helps to put more perspective on training and preparation as well as give benchmarks for the coach to work from,” she said.

Thompson-Herah was not the only standout at the meet on Saturday.

Her MVP club-mate, Julian Forte, followed up his impressive 10.03s while the 100m a week ago, broke through the 10-second barrier for the first time in three years, with 9.96 while defeating his celebrated compatriot Yohan Blake who was timed in 10.07s.

The times were aided by a trailing wind of 2.1m/s just above the legal limit of 2.0 m/s.

Nesta Carter, who ran in a separate heat, had the fastest wind-legal time of 10.18s (1.6m/s).

The Women 200m also produced solid performances as Bahamian Anthonique Strachan of MVP stopped the clock at 22.72s to defeat Natasha Morrison (23.68) and Michae Harriott of GC Foster (23.90).

Janieve Russell also seemed to be returning to full fitness as she ran 51.67 to win the 400m ahead of Shericka Jackson, 51.87. Rushell Clayton, the 2019 World Championship 400m hurdles bronze medallist was third in 52.67.

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