Citing recent injury concerns and a strategic focus on the 200m, two-time World Athletics 200m champion Shericka Jackson has withdrawn from the 100m event at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Jackson, who has been chasing the 36-year-old world record in the 200m, emphasized the need to protect her body and concentrate on excelling in one event as the Games approach.

"It's a combination of things," Jackson explained at a media event on Wednesday at Puma House. "I got hurt in Hungary and it's a good decision to run one event. I think this is just to protect my body. For the last three years, I've been competing in both events, and I think this decision is a combination of both, just focusing on one event and what happened in Hungary."

Jackson's pursuit of the world record saw her come agonizingly close at the World Championships in Budapest in 2023, where she clocked 21.41 seconds, breaking her own championship record of 21.45 seconds set in Oregon the previous year. Her 21.41 is the second-fastest time ever run by a woman over 200m.

Despite her impressive form, Jackson has decided to focus solely on the 200m at Paris 2024. "That decision was based on coach and I," she told Olympics.com at a press meet-up on Tuesday in Paris. "It's a combination of a lot of stuff. And I made that decision not to contest the 100m and focus only on the 200, and I think we're pretty happy with that. I just [want] to compete at my best, as everybody is here to win.”

Jackson is also uncertain about her participation in the 4x100m relay, an event in which she helped Jamaica secure an Olympic title at Tokyo 2020. "The focus is on the individual event first and then we speak about the relay after," she stated.

In her last race on July 9 at the Gyulai István Memorial in Székesfehérvár, Hungary, Jackson pulled up on the home stretch of the 200m. Despite this setback, she assured fans that she is in good shape to challenge for her first individual Olympic title. "Honestly, I was only supposed to compete in that event, and as coach stated, we only run a few races in Europe, and I think that was the only race all of us were supposed to run… I'm in pretty good shape," said the five-time Olympic medallist.

Jackson's primary target remains the 200m title rather than the world record of 21.34 seconds set by Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988. "Given how I have been progressing this season, I don't think the world record is on my mind right now," she said.