Florence Griffith Joyner set the 100-meter and 200-meter world records in 1988. Little did she know then that these records wouldn’t be broken even after so many years. However, many athletes around the world have tried their best to get past these records but haven’t succeeded yet. One of the names that pop up in the list of these athletes is Jamaican prodigy, Shericka Jackson. Every time Jackson steps foot on the track, there are high hopes that she is going to shatter Flo-Jo’s 200-meter world record of 21.34 seconds.
She has come so close several times and yet remained so far from the record. This year in August, she clocked 21.41 seconds to become the world champion. And now the Jamaican star has again posted a new Diamond League best in Brussels but yet again fell short of Flo-Jo’s record.
Shericka Jackson clocks a new Diamond League best
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Jackson displayed a dominant performance at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels tonight and finished the race in 21.48 seconds. This was also the fastest Diamond League finish and the fourth-fastest time in the women’s category. During the World Championships in Budapest, she also bettered her previous finish. This 29-year-old Jamaican runner now holds the records for the second, third, and fourth fastest times in the women’s 200-meter dash. However, she is yet to break Flo-Jo’s record, which is no easy feat.
Fastest all-time women's 200m races
21.34🇺🇸Florence Griffith-Joyner (1988)
21.41🇯🇲Shericka Jackson (2023)
21.45🇯🇲Shericka Jackson (2022)
21.48🇯🇲Shericka Jackson (2023)
21.53🇯🇲Elaine Thompson-Herah (2021)
21.55🇯🇲Shericka Jackson (2022)
21.56🇺🇸Florence Griffith-Joyner (1988) pic.twitter.com/KiKYv7kYXE— Travis Miller (@travismillerx13) September 8, 2023
Jackson now has 21.41 seconds, 21.45 seconds, and 21.48 seconds, which are also the fastest times consecutively. All of Shericka Jackson’s finishes in the 200-meter race surpass Florence Griffith Joyner’s second-best time of 21.56 seconds. Every time Jackson steps foot on the track, she looks super calm and poised to break Flo-Jo’s record, but she misses it by the skin of her teeth every time.
Now the world will have its eyes set on this world champion at the Eugene finals. Fans will yet again anticipate that she breaks Joyner’s years-old record.
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Florence Griffith Joyner’s world record
This American legend clocked 21.34 seconds during the 1988 Seoul Olympics against Grace Jackson and Heike Drechsler. Interestingly she set a new world record of 21.56 seconds during the semifinals of the same event and broke it by a stupendous 0.22 seconds in the finals.
It has been 35 years since Florence Griffith Joyner set these records, and no one in the world has even come close to breaking them. This pretty much sums up how great she was, and she very well deserves to be known as a legend.
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Shericka Jackson’s pursuit of Florence Griffith Joyner’s legendary records continues, coming incredibly close but falling short. Jackson’s latest Diamond League triumph further cements her status as a formidable athlete, yet the enduring legacy of Flo-Jo’s records, standing for 35 years, underscores her unparalleled greatness.
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