Jackson vs Richardson

Any meet with world record holders Ryan Crouser, Tobi Amusan, Mondo Duplantis and Yulimar Rojas is a many splendoured thing. Add metric miler supreme Jakob Ingebrigtsen and implacable American sprinter Fred Kerley and Sunday’s Silesia Diamond League meeting will almost certainly be a pleasure to behold.

For all that, the feature is a 2023 rematch that sprint fans have been waiting for – Shericka Jackson versus Sha’Carri Richardson over 100 metres. That clash is so juicy that the Polish meet organisers have placed it at the end of the programme.

The flamboyant Richardson tracked Jackson when they raced earlier this season in Doha and pounced at the end to win in 10.76 seconds. The Jamaican was timed in 10.85.

Both have run faster since with Jackson now the world leader with her National Championship winner, 10.65. Richardson is again her country’s champion and clocked 10.71 seconds on her way to that final.

Those times make them fifth and seventh on the all-time 100 metres performance list.

Jackson has won an Olympic bronze medal and last year’s World Championships silver in the 100m while Richardson hasn’t yet faced the starter at a major. With that in mind, their meeting in Silesia must be viewed as a prelude to next month’s World Championships in the Hungarian city of Budapest and nothing more.

Moreover, it probably isn’t reasonable to expect really fast times since they have travelled from Kingston and Florida, respectively, to Poland. Jackson left Jamaica on Monday with her MVP Track Club teammates and the American has presumably made a similar move. Still, a race between the two fastest women in the world rightfully generates its own buzz.

They’re as different as chalk from cheese. Richardson fizzes with energy while Jackson is cool, with a smile revealing a quiet sense of assuredness. The Jamaican wasn’t a 100m runner when Richardson burst on to the sprint radar with a world junior record 10.75 to win the NCAA Championships in 2019.

STRONGER AND FASTER

She was 19 then and has emerged from trials and tribulations stronger and faster.

This pair of lightning fast ladies have met before this season. Notably, Richardson was last in Eugene at the Prefontaine Classic in 2021. Jackson was third as Elaine Thompson Herah, then at the peak of her powers, covered 100m in 10.54 seconds.

Elaine’s classic run brought the world record – 10.49 seconds in 1988 by the late Florence Griffith-Joyner – into reach and perhaps in Budapest, when five-time world 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce is in the picture, you’ll hear talk about it. However, for now, it’s Jackson versus Richardson in Silesia and everyone will be watching.

By the way, Sunday is Shericka’s 29th birthday. A win would be a perfect present.

Hubert Lawrence has made notes at trackside since 1980.