Thomas Posts World-leading 21.60 To Claim US Women's 200m Title

Eugene, United States, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jul, 2023 ) :Gabby Thomas won the women's 200m title in a world-leading 21.60sec on Sunday, throwing down a World Championships challenge as she denied Sha'Carri Richardson a sprint double at the US athletics championships.

Richardson, coming off a 100m victory on Friday, seized the early lead but Thomas gained ground off the curve to take the victory, with Richardson second in a personal best 21.94 and Kayla White third in 22.01.

Thomas, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist, had opted not to run the 100m at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, this week, and the decision looked right as on fresh legs she twice improved on the best 200 time of the season.

She'd clocked a world-leading 21.86sec in the semi-finals, which reigning 200m world champion Shericka Jackson erased with a 21.71 at the Jamaican championships in Kingston.

Thomas responded in a big way, her personal best amping up anticipation for a showdown with Jackson at the World Championships in Budapest next month.

"Right after my world lead I immediately saw that she went better," Thomas said. "And so I'm thinking, OK, it's on." It was a contrast to last year's US championships, where a tearful Thomas failed to book a World Championships berth as she battled a hamstring injury.

"Coming here last year and being injured was really heart-breaking for me," she said. "I was really ready this year. I was hungry, I wanted it more than, I think, anyone."Richardson will still have a chance at a sprint double when she contests her first World Championships at Budapest next month.

She was infamously barred from the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 after testing positive for marijuana, and then saw her hopes of competing for a medal at last year's World Championships vanish when she bombed out of the US trials.