Tokyo (AFP)

Elaine Thompson-Herah remained the queen of the sprint.

The Jamaican managed the feat of securing a second 100m title at the Olympic Games by defeating her great rival Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Saturday in Tokyo, with a supersonic time, the second of all time (10 sec 61).

Five after the gold medal gleaned in Rio, the 29-year-old sprinter again caused a sensation by signing a double on the straight line at the Olympics only achieved by the Americans Wyomia Tyus (1964, 1968) and Gail Devers (1992, 1996) and by his compatriot Fraser-Pryce (2008, 2012).

This shows the scope of her performance, she who had already marked the spirits in Brazil in 2016 by being crowned in the 100 and 200 m.

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By dint of focusing too much on Fraser-Pryce, in search of an unprecedented treble at the Games and finally second in 10 sec 74, we had finally forgotten that Thompson-Herah, embarrassed by recurring pain in the Achilles tendons in recent years , made a resounding comeback to the forefront in 2021, rewarded with this phenomenal success on the straight in Tokyo.

Before arriving in Japan, she had already hit very hard with a time of 10 sec 71 (July 6 in Hengelo), only one hundredth of her personal best.

She did even better at the Olympics.

After a serial appetizer (10 sec 82), she ramped up in half (10 sec 76) by releasing her effort 30 m from the finish before blowing everything up in the final (10 sec 61).

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At rocket speed, all with an unfavorable wind (-0.6 m / s), Thompson has thus positioned itself in the all-time record just behind the sulphurous American Florence Griffith-Joyner, over whom weigh strong suspicion (10 sec 49).

Fraser-Pryce could only see the damage.

- Jamaican treble -

"I am very happy to have been able to come back to keep my title. My chest hurts so much I am happy," she said shortly after her victory.

Much more discreet than Fraser-Pryce, his ex-training friend in the prestigious MVP Track Club of Kingston, and from the agricultural district of "Banana Ground", marked by great poverty and located in the heart of Jamaica, Thomson-Herah knows how to make powder speak on the track.

Neck-to-neck with Fraser-Pryce after the start, she literally left her there after 60m of the race to raise her arms before collapsing after the line.

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Fraser-Pryce, flag bearer of the Jamaican delegation during the opening ceremony of the Games and who has become an icon since her return from maternity in 2018, will therefore not leave the Olympics with a treble in the 100m.

But she can always console herself with a fourth consecutive podium on the queen distance after her titles in 2008 and 2012 and bronze in 2016. It is her seventh medal at the Games.

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With the third place of Shericka Jackson (10 sec 76), Jamaica confirms its control over the women's sprint, a result greeted as it should by His Majesty Usain Bolt who wrote on Twitter "1.2.3" with the flag of the Caribbean island.

© 2021 AFP