By Nathan Frandino
EUGENE, Ore. (Reuters) – Five-times Olympic gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah said on Friday she will not be satisfied until she can add an elusive individual World Championship title to her trophy case.
She hopes to do just that when she competes in the women’s 100 metres in Eugene, Oregon starting on Saturday, building on her reputation as the queen of Jamaican track in the process.
“I feel amazing. The only title I don’t have is a world championship,” she told reporters on Friday, a day after Puma signed her to its roster of top-flight athletes. “So the focus is to claim a gold, of course.”
The 30-year-old from Manchester, Jamaica, will also run in the 200m.
The venue is a familiar and fast one for Thompson-Herah. She ran her personal best at Hayward Field last year, completing the 100m in 10.54 seconds – second only to Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 10.49 world record.
Asked whether she could break that record, she referenced the tattoo down her left arm that reads: “Nothing is impossible.” She got it before the Tokyo Olympics last year.
“Anything is possible, and for me it’s all about believing and putting in the work and the work has to go in to get that result. And for me, I think it can be broken, once you have that good weather, that competition, anything is possible,” she said.
Thompson-Herah faces tough competition from compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who won the world 100m title three years ago and is the world leader.
Despite last year’s time at Hayward being Thompson-Herah’s best, the Jamaican said she felt slow in that race, which she believes might be a good thing.
“I feel like I didn’t start properly, I felt sluggish, but normally what I’ve learned (is) if you’re too comfortable, you’re doing the wrong thing,” she said.
“If you feel uncomfortable, it’s a correct thing you’re doing, so I guess that day was the best day because I was not feeling fast.”
(Reporting by Nathan Frandino in Eugene, Oregon; Editing by Ken Ferris)
