The women’s 200m all-time list was blown apart on Friday as one the fastest races in the history of the event was recorded, with three women running inside 22s in the final of the IAAF World Championships in Beijing.
European double champion, Dafne Schippers raced to the title in a mind-blowing Championship, European and National Record (NR) of 21.63s, making her the third fastest woman EVER, only behind World Record (WR) holder, Florence Griffith-Joyner (21.34s) and Marion Jones (21.62s), while Jamaican icon, Merlene Ottey is 4th with 21.64s.
The fastest race in history was recorded in the final of the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul where Griffith-Joyner clocked the WR to win the race ahead of Grace Jackson of Jamaica (21.72s) and former European Record holder, Heike Drechsler (21.95s).
Schippers is no doubt one of the stand-out athletes of the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, as her victory in the 200m comes against the backdrop of an incredible performance in the 100m a few days ago where she won Silver with an NR of 10.81s behind Olympic champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
She becomes the sixth European to win the women’s 200m title at the World Championships after former WR holder Marita Koch (1983), Silke Gladisch (1987), Katrin Krabbe (1991), Zhanna Pintusevich (1997) and Anastasiya Kapachinskaya (2003).
Prior to the Beijing Championships, Allyson Felix was the only athlete to have broken 22s in 2015 with a World Lead (WL) of 21.98s. The absence of Felix, Fraser-Pryce, Shaunae Miller and a host of other big names in the 200m had given the impression, though a deceptive one at that, that the event would lack some sparkle.
But no one was prepared for the events that followed, or the slice of history that was made at the Bird’s Nest Stadium. It was indeed a two-horse race between Schippers who came to Beijing as the world No. 3 this year (22.09s) and her Jamaican rival, Elaine Thompson (No. 4, 22.10s) who also looked good enough for GOLD.
Thompson had already taken the lead and was dominating the field, but just as she is accustomed to doing, the Dutch athlete capitalized on her powerful finish, coming from behind to strike GOLD, while Thompson clocked an equally scorching 21.66s, putting her on 5th on the all-time list and pushing Felix to 6th (21.69s).
It took the Jamaican champion some time to celebrate this huge achievement, considering how close she was to winning the title. The 23-year old will no doubt, rue the lost opportunity, considering that she also missed out on breaking Ottey’s NR by two- hundredths of a second.
She would have also loved to retain the crown won by Fraser-Pryce in Moscow two years ago, joining the class of former Jamaican champions in the event which also include Ottey (1993 and 1995), and Veronica Campbell-Brown (2011). Thompson may however take solace in the fact that she still has time on her side, and will be aiming for the ultimate medal in Rio next year .
Former champion Campbell-Brown will get some consolation from her Bronze medal, returning a Season’s Best (SB) 21.97s, which is still some way off her Personal Best (PB) of 21.74s. The 30-year old narrowly missed out on a place on the podium in the 100m where she finished 4th in 10.89s.
Candyce McGrone and Jeneba Tarmoh of the USA placed 4th and 6th respectively, with the former clocking a PB of 22.01s. Great Britain’s Dina Asher Smith took 5th position with yet another NR of 22.07s, while Ivet Lalova-Collio and Sherone Simpson finished in 7th and 8th positions.
Going by her current form, Schippers may be on the edge of recreating history. After all, Germany’s Koch became the first woman to run the 200m under 22s in 1979. Can Schippers get some inspiration from the feat achieved by her fellow European, to perhaps, become the first woman to break the 21s barrier?
