Shericka Jackson’s hopes have been crushed like a piece of paper! 2025 was supposed to be the year when she etches her dramatic comeback, but her season opener isn’t exactly off to a flying start. The 30-year-old kicked it off at the Queens/Grace Jackson Development meet, participating in the 60m event on Saturday, but was handed a crushing defeat by Jodean Williams. Yes, all it took was one sprinter to flip the script!

Shericka Jackson’s coming from a season plagued by injuries that marked the end of her 2024 Olympic stint before it even started. Naturally, it’s not just her, but the MVP Track Club and the whole of Jamaica who are expecting big things from her this time. After all, she’s the fastest woman alive in the 200m, and this season presents a host of opportunities (like the coveted World Athletics Championships in Tokyo) for her to break that record. But, for now, Jodean Williams has kept Shericka waiting for her first victory in over 200 days.

Jodean Williams crossed the finish line in 7.15 seconds at the National Stadium on Saturday, while Jackson was a close second with 7.18s on the board. To shed a few details about her, at 31, Williams is an ace runner who reached the 2017 World Championships semi-finals in the 200m distance. She was also just a step away from the Paris flight last year, but unfortunately, she couldn’t qualify for the 100 or 200 m distances at the Jamaican trials. However, 2025 has started on a great note as Williams has just pulled off a marginal win against a 5x Olympic medalist and veteran runner, Jackson.

The introduction’s over, and now comes the surprising part! Going through Jodean Williams’ race statistics against Shericka Jackson, one realizes that this 60m victory happens to be the only triumph she has ever had over her fellow Jamaican. Yes, before this, Williams had raced Jackson in three sprint distances: 100, 200, and 400 meters. But hadn’t managed to come out on top, not even for once. In fact, Jackson’s swept it all, making it look like a landslide win. The numbers? Shericka Jackson holds a 6-0 win streak against Williams in the 100 meters, 12-0 in the 200 meters, and 2-0 in the 400 meters.

However, Jodean Williams has just shown how things can be done differently. She now leads the 60m bracket against Shericka Jackson by a 1-0 margin, and the improvement is obvious. Last year, at the same meet, Williams had clocked 7.20s, which did not even land her on the podium. It looks like she has now worked on those voids. Shericka, on the other hand, seems to be shaking off some rust. The 4x world champion hadn’t raced a 60m since February 2023, and even that performance wasn’t exactly flex-worthy. In comparison, at least Jackson landed on the podium this time.

But one thing is for sure: Jodean Williams has great potential! She holds personal best times of 11.01 in the 100m and 22.69 in the 200m. But she will surely look to lower those timings soon, considering she has been in good form. In 2024, she took a 100m silver at the Jamaican Championships and a 60m gold at the Western Milo Relays. The latter is her star discipline, as Williams is now tied for the 4th spot on the women’s 60m world leaders’ list for 2025, which is again exceptional. But do you know the secret behind this success? It’s coming right up!

Jodean Williams’ mantra to track success

In the 2023 season, Jodean Williams made a huge career shift, and the results have started to show on the track for sure. She is currently coached by Maurice Wilson at the SprinTec club, a decision she took after leaving the Racers Track Club right before the 2024 season kicked off. Now why would someone leave the club where athletes like Usain Bolt have trained?

However, Jodean Williams had her explanations. She said she was confident that it would lead to big things, “Racers is a very lovely club, and I have nice friends over there, and the coaches are really great. But it was just a personal thing for me to move on this season.” And it looks like it is actually working out for her.

Even before today, Williams was hardly a rookie. As a seasoned sprinter, she was part of the Jamaican 4x100m relay team at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia in 2024, where they finished second with a time of 44.11. This is just one of her many performances. And thus, we know that with her clear focus now, she can take things to the next level. Didn’t we see a glimpse of this today? What do you think? Let us know below!