“It’s a combination of a lot of stuff,” said Shericka Jackson when she struck the 100m event off her Paris agenda. Soon, the 200m followed suit, as she completely withdrew from the 2024 Olympic Games. An injured Jackson did not want to go about and compete in Paris, which was only rational. But what happened to the 2025 mega comeback plans? As of now, they do not seem to be coming through. And fans are not pulling back from calling a spade a spade.

On January 25, Shericka Jackson made an official comeback on the track after over 200 days, for she was last seen around July 9, 2024, at the Gyulai István Memorial in Hungary. She’d pulled up coming down the home stretch and limped off the track and that injury jeopardized the rest of the season for her. But today, she’s returned to the track for the first time since then. It’s natural to expect that fiery energy? Well, that seemed lacking.

Shericka Jackson clocked 7.18 seconds in her season-opening 60m dash, which saw her finish second behind Jodean Williams. As the 31-year-old won her first-ever race against Jackson in years, fans noted how easily the double Olympic gold medalist got overpowered – not quite something typical of Jackson. That’s when multiple fans started taking to the internet to add their two cents.

However, one of the prime reactions came from the official handle of Athlos NYC as they praised Shericka Jackson’s season debut. They wrote, “Shericka Jackson opened up her season today! We all have missed her since Paris but our hunger has been satisfied today by seeing her open up in the 60m running 7.18! Not much needs to be said because we all know a healthy Shericka is a very, very dangerous woman [emoji]”

Well, this is quite a stark contrast to the fan sentiment. The track and field fans did not mince their words looking at her veteran status in the sport. After all, anyone can have a bad day, and today seemed Shericka’s.

Shericka Jackson’s season debut questioned by track fans

“That start was awful guess she’s not been doing squat,” commented one of the fans. They highlighted how Shericka Jackson was too slow out of the blocks, trailing behind the rest of the line. It was only after she got her body in the upright position that she could accelerate and overtake Jonielle Smith. And this was extremely concerning for her fans. Does this hint that she hasn’t been keeping up with the training? Or is she not back to her peak fitness levels?

Well, fans had a lot to speculate. A similar pattern was spotted last season when Shericka Jackson delayed her season opener and failed to post great timings once she finally did. Remember how she’d faded to the fifth position at the Oslo Diamond League? Things had looked quite concerning for her even then. Things are looking similar for the 30-year-old this season, and fans were quick to attribute it to her lethargic start.

Another one added, “Her worst start ever. She probably worked harder than her coach wanted her to“ The possibility that she pushed way too much for this day and that led her to be overworked is another possibility that her fan highlighted. But Jackson’s coach believes otherwise. After the race, Shericka Jackson’s coach from the MVP Track Club, Paul Francis said that these start-of-the-year meets are more like training meets. Nonetheless, Jackson ran faster than she had ever before at this stage.

Coach Paul Francis even crushed rumors citing that if she hadn’t recovered well, she wouldn’t have stepped on the track. But even though Francis continued to be optimistic, Shericka Jackson did not look in great shape to her fans. Another one of them cited, “She’s rusty.” While a brutal opinionator hailed that Jackson’s form isn’t good enough to stand against her American competitor, “She’s not ready for Sha’Carri.”

Well, the direct comparison with Sha’Carri Richardson was obvious. Both Richardson and Shericka Jackson aim for Florence Griffith-Joyner’s world records. They know, they’ll have to fend each other off to get close to that benchmark. Well, Shericka Jackson is the fastest 200m woman alive, as she trails the world record by 0.07 seconds. While in the 100m, the two take the spot next to each other, tied at 10.65 seconds on the all-time list.

But is it too soon to say? Well, one of the fans does feel so. They wrote, “Fam it’s January 25th relax” hinting that a long season lies ahead for Jackson to prove her mettle. While some believe her ‘Road to Tokyo’ has already started, others are awaiting all the other events for Shericka Jackson to refine her form. Isn’t this what Paul Francis affirmed too?

Moreover, many are ready to give her a second chance. One of the fans wrote, “Apart from her terrible reaction to the gun, Shericka Jackson looks good. She should be satisfied with that shake out.” But the question is, will she be? After all, after years of competing against Jodean Williams, she has finally lost a race to her, and that breaks Jackson’s win streak. So do you think she’ll be able to make a comeback after this loss? Share your thoughts with us below!