"It is always a pleasure to come to Paris; France is one of the countries that I cherish the most," Paulino expressed with enthusiasm during the pre-meet press conference on Saturday.
Her fondness for the French capital and its supportive atmosphere fuels her motivation to perform at her best. "My main ambition is to do the best possible time and to have an optimal race execution. For me, a time of 48'' would be ideal; that's what I prepare for in each competition."
Paulino’s preparation for the Diamond League meeting has been thorough and meticulous. "I feel very well prepared. I worked all the muscles in my body, and I hope to win the gold medal in a month," she said. Her sights firmly set on the Olympic title, a victory that would be monumental for both her and her country. "The Olympic title would be a great achievement, not only for myself but for all the Dominican people. The last gold medal for our country was won by Félix Sanchez in London in 2012, in the 400m hurdles."
Mental fortitude plays a crucial role in Paulino’s training and performance. "Mentally, I feel extremely good, thanks to God and reading the Bible. That is where I get my motivation, and it is thanks to Him that I have achieved everything I have already accomplished. I am very proud of my faith and my relationship with God, which are very important to me," she shared, highlighting the importance of her spiritual beliefs in her athletic journey.
As the Olympic Games approach, Paulino is focused on maintaining her composure. "I am very happy to be in Paris as the Olympic Games approach, but I must remain calm and serene so as not to let myself be overcome by emotion and the stakes. It is a mental work to be done to arrive as fresh as possible in three weeks at the Stade de France," she explained.
The Olympic 100 and 200m champion set a new meet record of 10.65 to win the 100m going away from Dina Asher-Smith who returned to form with a season-best run of 10.87 for second place. Third went to Ajla Del Ponte who ran a personal best 10.93. Daryll Neita also ran a personal best of 10.93 but was given fourth.
Since she won the gold medal in the 100m in Tokyo in a time of 10.61, Thompson-Herah has run times of 10.54, 10.64, 10.72 and 10.65 and became the first woman to run four wind-legal times under 10.70s.
During the meet where there were several close races, Kirani James narrowly missed out on winning the 400m in a stirring battle down the home stretch with Michael Cherry, whose legs gave out at the line but still managed to clock 44.41, just edging James as the two of them crashed to the track after crossing the line.
Deon Lendore of Trinidad and Tobago made it a Caribbean 2-3 as he clocked 44.81.
Another close finish unfolded in the 110m hurdles that ended with the USA’s Devon Allen being declared the champion even though he and Ronald Levy crossed the line together in 13.06. The time was 0.01 outside Levy’s lifetime best.
Olympic champion Hansle Parchment clipped a couple of hurdles, lost his rhythm and finished third in 13.17.
The 200m dashes were no different as Shericka Jackson ran a personal best 21.81 but just failed to hold off the fast-finishing Christine Mboma, who set a new WorldU20 record of 21.78, which was also an area record, for the victory.
Asher-Smith was unable to stay with them down the stretch and faded to third in 22.19.
Kenny Bednarek held off Andre Degrasse to win the men’s race in 19.70. His winning time was 0.02 seconds ahead of the Canadian who clocked 19.72.
Fred Kerley who won the 100m ahead of Degrasse, finished third in 19.83.
Megan Tapper has been on a tear since she became the first Caribbean woman to win a bronze medal in the 100m hurdles at the Olympics. She was third in Zurich in 12.55, just outside her lifetime best of 12.53 set during the first round of the event at the Tokyo Olympics last month.
It took a personal best and area record of 12.42 from Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan and a personal best and national record of 12.51 of the Netherlands’ Nadine Visser to beat her.
Quanera Hayes won the Women’s 400m in 49.88 over Dominica’s Marileidy Paulino, the Olympic silver medalist, who ran Hayes close to clock 49.96 for second place. Sada Williams of Barbados was third in 50.24, just edging Stephenie-Ann McPherson (50.25).
Candace McLeod was fifth in 50.96.
Karsten Warholm continued his imperious form in the 400m hurdles winning in 47.35 ahead of Alison Dos Santos (47.81) and Kyron McMaster (48.24).
Olympic bronze medalist Femke Bol took the women’s race in a meet record of 52.80. The USA’s Shamier Little ran 53.35 and Anna Ryzhykova, 53.70, for second and third, respectively.
Meanwhile, in the field, Fedrick Dacres finished third in the discus with his best mark of 65.33m.
It was no surprise that Sweden’s Daniel Stahl won the event with 66.49m. Kristjan Ceh of Sloevnia threw 65.39m for second.
The winner of the Women’s triple was also not surprising as Olympic champion and world record holder Yulimar Rojas soared out to a meet record 15.48m to take the win. Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts jumped 14.64 for the runner-up spot with her compatriot Kimberly Williams third with 14.41m.
Jackson produced 22.82 to win ahead of Ivorian Maboundou Kone (22.96) and France’s Helene Parisot (23.02) in conditions she described as not ideal for fast sprinting.
“Felt good. I think I did pretty well tonight. Out here is a bit cold and windy but, nevertheless, I’m healthy and that’s good,” Jackson said in a post-race interview.
In addition to the weather, Jackson commented on the lack of fans in the stadium to give the athletes a boost, stating that it paled in comparison to last year’s edition of the meet.
“I was like ‘Oh My God!’ It’s one thing when out there is windy and cold and you don’t have much spectators to give you the boost and I think tonight wasn’t as good as last year where reception is concerned,” she said.
With it being her first 200m of the season, “execution” was Jackson’s response when asked what the focus of the race was.
“It’s my second race and first 200m of the season. I did not know what to expect. Coach and I were discussing a few things and I think we did pretty good tonight,” she said.
Jackson then said that she has a few more races scheduled before competing at Jamaica’s National Championships from June 27-30 at the National Stadium in Kingston.
“I have a few more races before trials. It’s a bit of a late start to the season but we have a few races to go so it’s just building from there. We’ll definitely peak at the right time,” she said.
Jackson will be looking to replicate her performance at last year’s national championships where she took the sprint double with times of 10.65, a personal best, and 21.71.
She also won the sprint double in 2022 with times of 10.77 and 21.55.
Jackson, who broke her own championship record of 21.45 seconds set in Oregon in 2022 with a stunning 21.41 at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, has consistently demonstrated her prowess on the track. She further solidified her status with a 21.48 run at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels and concluded her season with a 21.57 at the Prefontaine Classic, securing the Diamond League double by also winning the 100m in 10.70.
Reflecting on her pursuit of the elusive 200m world record of 21.39, set by American Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988, Jackson revealed her and her coach's meticulous approach. “Coach and I have been working on so many things this year. Last year we came close, we also did an attempt at I think it was Brussels and it went pretty well. This year we’re working on the fine details and hope for the best at the end of this season,” she said.
Jackson's Olympic journey has seen its share of highs and lows. At the Tokyo Olympics, she was a gold medal favorite in the 200m but was eliminated in the preliminary round due to a mistimed run. However, she redeemed herself by securing a gold medal as part of Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team. For the Paris Olympics, Jackson is determined to claim her first individual Olympic gold medal.
“I am yet to have an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games so that’s one of my goals this year to work hard and hoping to achieve that at the end of August,” said Jackson, who also stated that she is aiming for a season’s best run later today after her opening 200m run of 22.82 in Rabat on May 19.
“I am definitely looking forward to a season’s best but for me it’s building to the Jamaica trials, which comes up next month and I think it’s one step at a time. Once I finish healthy tomorrow, I am better shape than I was two weeks ago so I am looking forward to great things.”
Fraser-Pryce, who complained of a tight hamstring prior to withdrawing from the 100m in Lausanne two weeks ago, ran 10.74 for second after she was edged at the line by Jackson who clocked a meet-record 10.73 for victory.
Afterwards, Fraser-Pryce, who admitted at the pre-race press conference on Thursday that she was not 100 per cent, said she did not suffer an injury during the race but was being cautious regarding her participation in Diamond League final next week.
“I feel okay about today´s race. It wasn´t anything spectacular but I felt good I do not have any injury so that is the most important part,” she said.
“I am not sure about Zurich I will have to wait and listen to my body but today was really amazing. I love running in Brussels.”
Meanwhile, Jackson was obviously pleased to be the only woman to defeat her imperious compatriot.
“It takes a lot of hard work to beat Shelley-Ann. She's a tough cookie to beat,” Jackson declared.
“So you need to keep working hard if you want to win. Tonight I had a good execution of my race, so I'm happy with that.”
The 35-year-old Jamaican has run a record six times below 10.70 so far this season with a seventh on the cards when she lines up against a stacked field that includes compatriots Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shericka Jackson in the blue-riband sprint at the Athletissima Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland on Friday.
It was at Lausanne in 2021 where she ran a lifetime best of 10.60.
Speaking at the pre-meet press conference on Thursday, the fastest woman in the world this year said her extraordinary consistency this season has been the result of constant practice and trust in her improved technique.
“When I started the season, I ran 10.6 in Kenya and I was shocked because I travelled all the way from Kingston and I was a bit tired but my execution was good and I realized the key to running fast and having consistent times is making sure I practice my technique,” she said, “and then to be able to have that consistency is wonderful and it shows that your hard work and staying true to your technique actually works.”
Since her last race in Monaco on August 10, when she ran a world-leading 10.62, Fraser-Pryce spent the last two weeks enjoying a bit of downtime celebrating the birthdays of her son Zyon and her husband Jason, as well as getting in some practice before taking on the final Diamond League races of the season.
Now back in Europe for the culmination of a long season and an eye on a fifth Diamond League title, the two-time Olympic champion, believes she still has a faster time in her tiring legs.
In May, she revealed that she was targeting 10.5 or 10.4 before the end of the 2021/2022 season. On Thursday, she said she doesn’t need a perfect race for that to happen.
“I don’t think a perfect race exists because there is always something but I want to have one of those races that everything works together or something that doesn’t work I am able to counter that at 60 or 70 so watching the races and having my coach telling me what’s happening, if I am able to fix or tweak a few things then I will be able to run faster than 10.6,” she said.
In addition to her compatriots, Fraser-Pryce will be lining up in the 100m against Africa’s fastest woman Marie Jose Ta Lou, European 100m silver medallist Majinga Kambundji as well as Americans Twanisha Terry, Aleia Hobbs and Tamari Davis.
Fraser-Pryce, who won her fifth World Championship 100m gold medal in Eugene in July, sped to 10.65, her seventh sub 10.7 time this season, to win her fifth Diamond Trophy.
Teammate Shericka Jackson, who ran 10.73 to beat Fraser-Pryce in Brussels, finished second in 10.81 while The Ivory Coast’s Marie Josee Ta Lou ran 10.91 for third.
Fraser-Pryce ends her stellar season with 10 wins out of 11 races in the 100m.
2011 World 100m Champion Yohan Blake ran 10.05 to finish second in the men's equivalent behind American World Championship bronze medallist Trayvon Bromell (9.94). Canadian Aaron brown ran 10.06 for third.
The 34-year-old, 2012 Olympic silver medalist, ran a personal best of 21.79 to win the half-lap sprint at the Jamaican national championships on June 27 but said there were things she can improve on before she goes into the Olympic Games in Tokyo. She wants to focus on making those improvements when she races in Monaco.
“I know Monaco has a very good track and the last time I ran (the 200m) was in Kingston and I ran 21 and I definitely felt like there are phases in that race where I could have done better, so I am hoping to do that tomorrow,” said Fraser-Pryce while at a pre-meet press conference in Monaco today.
“I am working on phases that will give me the advantage.”
The four-time world champion revealed that she is in the best shape of her life and gave credit to her coach Reynaldo Walcott, whom she said has helped put her in the position she now finds herself in.
“I’d definitely say I am in the best shape of my life and what a time for that to happen. It’s been something that I have been working so hard towards to break the 10.7 barrier and to be able to do it under the conditions that I did, I know I am definitely able to go faster,” she said.
“My coach was actually a part of my old coaching system (at MVP) before he left, so I think what has made the difference this year is focusing on the technique and that came through a lot of endurance work because as a sprinter I was so focused on my turnovers and less about having big strides and maintaining towards the end so I definitely think that was where the difference was made, endurance, keeping my technique and changing my technique.”
She admitted that this has been an exciting year for her having achieved one of her main goals of running below 10.7 seconds, which has now given her more confidence in the pursuit of her ultimate goal of winning a third Olympic 100m title, something no other woman has done.
“I am definitely having fun. I’ve said for a long time that my dream was to run below 10.7 because I’ve been running 10.7s every year at every championship and to be able to break the 10.7 barrier is just something that I really wanted to do and now that I am able to do it, I feel so much more confident in my technique and being patient with the phases of the race and I think that has definitely made the difference in terms of the 200m,” she said.
“To be able to stand on the podium at my fourth Olympics is definitely one of the goals and I am working so hard towards it but as an athlete, I have always understood that you take it a day at a time, a step at a time, and I think coming here to Monaco to run this 200m will definitely put me in a position to make it happen.
“I am delighted that I even have this opportunity to contend because not a lot of athletes get the opportunity to contend for a fourth Olympic Games and three Olympic gold medals so I am excited about that opportunity and I am looking forward to it. Things have been going great so far and I am relishing the moment, the excitement of what female sprinting has become.”
During a media session with media, earlier today on the eve of her Diamond League 100m race in Doha on Friday, the two-time Olympic 100m champion and four-time World Champion was asked what she hopes to get out of the Olympic Games.
“Having been on the podium so many times, if I am honest, I am really looking forward to being on the podium, which is good for me, but I think this time around I am looking forward to running below 10.70. That is definitely a big dream and something that I am working hard towards,” she said.
“To have both (medal and time) would definitely be a blessing, but if you ask me which one I would rank higher I would definitely say I want to run 10.6 or even faster. That is definitely what I want but to have the combination would be good so I am working towards the combination as well.”
Chasing times, she explained, would not be detrimental to her goals of bettering her personal best (10.70), a national record that she shares with double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, because she believes the quality of her competitors will help her achieve the time she seeks as well as medals.
“The harder the competitions are the better I am at performing,” said Fraser-Pryce, who has run some of her fastest time in the finals of global competitions.
“I like a challenge, I like when the competition is hot because, at the end of the day, that is what the Diamond League is about as well because when you are at a Diamond League you know the field is going to be good and it’s going to be solid,” she said.
“When you’re in a race and you’re the sole competitor that is doing well, the pressure is not there as if you if have competitors that are doing exceptionally well just like you, so for me, I think the bigger the field is the bigger I perform because I love the opportunity to rise and I think those are the opportunities I get when I compete in a field that’s stacked.”
Jamaica’s Fraser-Pryce, who won her fifth world title in Eugene last month, has run world leading times at the last two Diamond League stops in Silesia and Monaco.
Unbeaten in the 100m this season, the Jamaican has produced six sub 10.7 times so far and will look to add a seventh and book a spot in the Diamond League final in Zurich on September 7-8.
Asher-Smith, who won gold in the 200m at the 2019 World Championships in Doha to go along with her 100m silver, has a season’s best of 10.83 which she ran to finish fourth at the World Championships in Eugene.
Marie-Josee Ta Lou, who sped to a personal best and African record 10.72 to finish third behind Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson in Monaco, will also be in the race as well as the USA’s Sha’Carri Richardson.
Fraser-Pryce, who won her fifth world title in Eugene recently, got her usual bullet start before proceeding to step away from the field and register her fourth sub-10.7 time this season and sixth overall, more than any other woman in history. American Aleia Hobbs ran 10.94 for second while The Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou was third in 11.00.
In the men’s equivalent, World Championship semi-finalist Ackeem Blake ran 10.00 for third behind Americans Trayvon Bromell (9.95) and Marvin Bracy (10.00) who won bronze and silver at the recently concluded World Championships in Eugene.
Shericka Jackson, who ran 21.45 to win gold at the World Championships and become the fastest woman alive in the event, won the 200m in 21.84 ahead of Bahamian World 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo (22.35) and American Jenna Prandini (22.39).
Meanwhile, in the Men's 400m Grenada's Kirani James ran a fast 44.55 but had to settle for the runner-up spot as Michael Norman, the 2022 World Champion, claimed victory in 44.11. Bryce Deadmon was third in 44.68.
The women's race was won by the incredible Dutch 400m hurdler Femke Bol, who clocked a personal best of 49.75, a new meet record and national record.
Poland's Natalia Kaczmarek finished second in a personal best time of 49.86. World Championships finalist Candice McLeod was third in 50.22 just ahead of compatriot Stephenie-Ann McPherson who ran 50.31 for fourth.
The 34-year-old Jamaican cruised to victory over Blessing Okagbare, during what was a much better performance than the one she delivered in less than ideal conditions in Gateshead five days ago when she was fourth in 11.51.
The Nigerian Okagbare was second in a season-best 10.90, while the USA’s Javianne Oliver was third in 11.03 for third.
Fraser-Pryce’s performance capped what was an encouraging meet for a number of Caribbean athletes, most of whom had podium finishes.
Chief among them were Kimberly Williams and Shanieka Ricketts, who both produced lifetime bests while finishing second and third, respectively, in the triple jump won by the imperious Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas in a new meet record 15.15m.
Ricketts, who won the silver medal at the World Championships in Doha two years ago, uncorked her best-ever jump of 14.98m to advance to the final jump phase of the competition where the person producing the best jump in the final round of the competition is declared the winner.
Williams, who also has a personal best jump of 14.69m, also advanced to the final jump along with Ricketts and Rojas. Her jump of 14.45m temporarily put her in the lead. Ricketts fouled her jump and it was left to the Venezuelan to unseat the Jamaican from the top spot, which is exactly what she did, producing her second-best effort of the competition, 15.11m, to take the gold medal.
Williams finished second while Ricketts finished third.
Natoya Goule, fresh from her win in the 600m at the Boost Boston Games on Sunday, clocked a season-best 1:59.70 to finish second in the 800m won by Faith Kipyegon in a season-best 1:58.26. Rababe Arafi was third in 1:59.83.
Meanwhile, Kirani James ran a season-best of 44.61 but suffered his first loss of the season finishing fourth in the 400m won by Michael Norman in a world-leading 44.27. Anthony Zambrano closed like a runaway train to nip Fred Kerley at the line for second place. The Colombian clocked a season-best 44.57 to Kerley’s 44.60.
Rai Benjamin ran a meet record of 47.38 to win the 400m hurdles, beating the talented young Brazilian Alisson Dos Santos, who ran a personal best of 47.57, which was also a new area record. Kyron McMaster was third in 47.82.
The 200m provided a thrilling finish that saw the USA’s Kenneth Bednarek hold off a fast-finishing Andre Degrasse to win in 19.88, a season-best. Degrasse, who to the naked eye seemed to crossed the line first, was second in a season-best 19.89 with his compatriot, Aaron Brown, third in 20.25.
The Bahamian speed queen will be making her outdoor 200m debut against a very strong field that will also include compatriot Athonique Strachan, who has been in good form this season, following a lifetime best 10.99 over the 100m and 22.55 over 200m in Kingston in late March.
Fraser-Pryce, who broke 22 seconds for the first time last year and finished fourth in the half-lap sprint in Tokyo, has run 22.79 this season easing down 50m from the finish line and could be looking to go much faster this weekend while she decides whether to take on the sprint double at the World Championships this summer.
Two-time USA 200m champion Jenna Prandini ran a personal best of 21.89 at the USA trials last year and will be hoping to replicate that time when she goes up against this field that will also have 2021 NCAA Champion, who has run 22.40 so far this season.
The field is completed by the promising Brittany Brown, Tamara Clarke and Dezerea Bryant.
Goule-Toppin finished third in the race behind American superstar Athing Mu, who rebounded from a bronze medal at the World Championships with an American Record 1:54.97 to win, and British World Championship silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson who ran a British Record 1:55.19 in second.
Goule-Toppin’s time in third was 1:55.96, bettering her own previous national record 1:56.15 set back in 2018.
Despite not taking the win on Sunday, the 32-year-old was delighted to end her season with that performance.
“I wanted the win because I know I have the ability to do it but I’m really happy with the third especially the national record,” Goule-Toppin said.
“I’ve been longing to run 1:55 and today was the day. The last one was the best one. It’s the last race of the season and I’m going home happy,” she added.
Goule-Toppin had been flirting with a sub 1:56 time for a number of years and she says the presence of competitors like Mu, Hodgkinson and World Champion Mary Moraa, who finished fourth, pushed her to this time.
“I kept saying once I stay with them I know I’ll run fast as well so when I saw 1:54, I knew I ran something fast but I didn’t know what it was. I was congratulating the girls then I looked back, saw my name and started rejoicing,” she said.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist also gave credit to the man above for her exploits on Sunday.
“I was patient and I prayed a lot. I said God, let your will be done and just help me to go out there and be strong and smart,” she said.
“All day I was talking to myself. It sounds crazy but I kept saying run through the line. Before I went out, my coach said the same thing,” she added.
The 27-year-old McLeod was speaking today at a press conference on the eve of the Gateshead Diamond League meeting on Tuesday.
The 2016 Olympic champion hit the first hurdle at his country’s national championships on Sunday, June 27 and finished eighth. He complained afterwards that he had suffered a cramp after being forced to run the finals on Sunday morning having won his semi-final on the night before in 13.04 his second-fastest time this season.
Ronald Levy, who was second in McLeod’s semi-final in a season-best 13.08, won the final in 13.10 ahead of Damion Thomas (13.11) and Hansle Parchment (13.16), all top 10 times in the world. However, the national record holder felt he should have been considered for selection, despite the competition rules which state that the first three places will be selected.
Asked about his situation, McLeod held nothing back.
“I am very heartbroken, honestly. I don’t think I was given or granted a fair opportunity to make the team with this ridiculous schedule that I have never seen in my years in track and field where they have semi-finals late in the evening and then, without recovery and the country was in complete lockdown so we were unable to go back to the hotel and get food,” he lamented, his voice near the point of breaking.
“So, my team and I, we did the best we could and we went to a little lounge at the hotel and drank some soup and had a salad because that was all they had, trying to go back to the track and five in the morning for a final at eight, I mean, that’s stupid.
“For an event that has your reigning Olympic champion, you don’t treat the event like that. Give me a fair opportunity like everybody else to come and make the team. I didn’t have the audacity to not show up at the trials thinking I was obligated to make the team. I went there ready to compete and earn my spot.”
He said on the morning of the race he suffered a severe cramp and thought that his country would have ‘had my back."
“We did a medical exemption. It’s been done for Usain Bolt and other athletes before where they couldn’t run in the final or something happened. I was in the same position where I won all the major gold medals and historic moments where I was the first Jamaican to win (110mh) gold medals in every championship so I thought I was going to be okay.”
McLeod said his team exhausted every possible avenue of appeal including sending emails and meeting with the members of the selection committee. He also put out a statement on social media explaining what happened prior to the race.
The distraught sprint hurdler, who said he was denied the chance to run ‘something ridiculous’ at the trials, perhaps a national or world record, suggested he doesn’t know what he will do at the meet on Tuesday as he will be running on pure emotion waiting for the season to end.
“To be denied the opportunity is really absurd,” he said.
Holloway, who won World Championship gold in Eugene in July, got off to his usual fast start and maintained his composure to run 13.02 for victory. A fast-closing Broadbell, the Commonwealth Games champion, ran 13.06 to narrowly finish second while Parchment, the reigning Olympic Champion, ran 13.26 for third.
World record holder and World and Commonwealth Champion Tobi Amusan of Nigeria ran a meet record 12.29 for victory in the women’s 100m hurdles ahead of The USA’s Tia Jones (12.40) and Jamaican World Championship silver medallist Britany Anderson (12.42).
The Jamaican sprinter is set to face her most formidable challenge to date this term, at Thursday’s Diamond League meet in Rome. Thompson-Herah will face a quality field that includes 400m Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo, 200m World champion Dina Asher-Smith and compatriot Shericka Jackson over 200m.
In nine races so far this season, over both the 100 and the 200m, Thompson-Herah is yet to taste defeat. She will be first to admit, however, that it has been far from smooth sailing.
“I’m not 100 percent but I think I am a true fighter. I opened my season at Mt. SAC and I got a rotator (cuff) injury so I was in and out of practice. You need your arms to run and every time I race I have discomfort in it, but I have to race, I have to see where I am at,” Thompson-Herah said at the pre-meet press conference on Wednesday.
“I think having (to compete) with an Achilles and shoulder injury you are a true fighter. I know most athletes have something that they're going through they just don’t talk about it. I hate to talk about my injuries,” she added.
With Jamaica’s national trials just a few weeks away, the athlete insists she is using the races to fine-tune her performance.
The 2015 World 100m hurdles champion and 2019 bronze medalist is off to a fast start this season, losing just once, a third-place finish in the 60m dash at the Clemson Invitational on February 14.
A week earlier she ran 38.57 to win an indoor 300m at Clemson.
Since then she is 2-0 in finals, winning the 60m hurdles in Karlsruhe, Germany in 7.84 and then just last weekend at the New Balance Grand Prix in New York, Williams ran a new lifetime best of 7.83, the second-fastest time in the world this year.
Only 100m hurdles world-recorder Kendra Harrison with 7.81 has run faster.
She explained to Sportsmax.TV earlier this week that so far this season she has been healthy and happy.
“Last year was a disastrous season and so this year I have had a renewed mindset. I am determined to not have as disastrous a season, I can’t repeat that”, she said from her base in South Carolina.
“Last year I started the season injured, I finished the season injured so I am of the mindset that I have to stay healthy this year. I love competing so I am trying to find the fun in what I am doing once more because I wasn’t having fun last year. So that’s my only desire this year, to stay healthy, to have fun and to compete well.”
This season has been markedly different from 2021 when a raft of injuries hindered her preparation, her ability to compete and played a part in Williams missing out on Jamaica’s Olympic team for the second consecutive cycle. She said it was a difficult time.
“Last year this time I was injured, I had foot problems, I couldn’t run, I had to take a month off,” she said.
“I was down in the dumps for a lot of last year. I lost my confidence.
“I started doubting myself and my ability because I was injured all the time and I wasn’t as strong and it was affecting a lot of things so (this year) I have taken a different approach to the gym, I have taken a different approach to practice, to recovery and I am doing all the little things that I didn’t pay enough attention to and that has led to improvements in a lot of areas on the track but mostly off the track and definitely in my mindset going into practice and into competition.”
The biggest change, she said, is with her physicality.
“The difference this season is that I am healthy and I am stronger, much, much stronger,” she said. “I changed weight programmes so I am more powerful and strong.”
Armed with greater confidence and greater strength, Williams is approaching the full season with greater optimism. She is looking forward to the World Championships in Oregon in the summer and is not ruling out the Commonwealth Games where she won silver on Australia’s Gold Coast in 2018.
“I plan to take it one step at a time. I am definitely targeting trying to go to World Indoors when that is finished we will turn our attention to the outdoor season,” she said. “I am pretty sure World Championships is the main target.”
Regarding the Commonwealth Games, she said, she isn’t sure what Coach Lennox Graham has planned but the Diamond League circuit is also in her plans for the season.
“We are going to try to do as much as we can,” she said.
Jackson, 28, the 2022 200m world champion ran 10.73 to edge Fraser-Pryce at the line. The 2022 100m world champion clocked 10.74 for second place.
Marie Josee Ta Lou from the Ivory Coast was third in 10.78.
Aleia Hobbs of the United States, who ran 10.81 to beat Jackson in Lausanne, two weeks ago, clocked 10.91 for fourth.
American Sha’carri Richardson who ran 11.29 to defeat Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah in Luzern, Switzerland on Tuesday was fifth in 10.93.
Jackson, who earlier ran 10.81 for second behind Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the 100m, sped to 21.80 to take the 200m crown ahead of American Olympic bronze medallist Gabby Thomas (22.38), and her countrywoman Tamara Clark (22.42).
Jackson ran 22.07 to finish second to Thomas (21.98) in her first 200m race of the season at the Doha Diamond League event on May 13 and has gone undefeated in nine races since, including a 21.45 effort to win gold at the World Championships in Eugene, becoming the fastest woman alive in the process.
In the men’s equivalent, The Dominican Republic’s Alexander Ogando ran 20.02 for third, the same time as second placed finisher Aaron Brown of Canada. American World Champion Noah Lyles was victorious in a meet record 19.51.
