Shericka Jackson’s pursuit of Flo-Jo’s 200m world record is Diamond League Final’s main attraction

The men’s 200 metres at this weekend’s Prefontaine Classic will feature teenage phenom Erriyon Knighton and world silver medallist Kenny Bednarek, along with Canadian star Andre De Grasse. In most other track meets you’d stage it last, and let the whole program build up to that last showcase of speed and depth.

But this weekend, at the meet that will double as the Diamond League Final, the men will run second-last. In boxing you would call them the “chief support.”

No, the men’s 200 isn’t miscast as the Pre Classic’s co-main event. And no, as talented as that field will be — even without Noah Lyles, who will stick to the 100 this weekend — the men don’t figure to steal the show from the headliners.

Make that headliner, singular.

Not that Shericka Jackson, the two-time champion in the women’s 200 metres, and the world’s top performer over that distance this season, is running by herself. Jackson will line up against big names like Daryll Neita and Marie Josée Ta Lou.

Chasing history

But Jackson, 29, isn’t chasing other runners; she’s pursuing Florence Griffith-Joyner’s world record. The time — 21.34 seconds — has towered over women’s 200-metre sprinting since 1988. It’s older than any of the women running Sunday’s 200, and Jackson, a five-time world and Olympic champion, has a chance to take it down.

So Sunday’s main event doesn’t pit any two runners against each other on the track.

The featured race is Jackson versus “Flo-Jo” versus history.

Jackson has three sub 21.5-second clockings on her resumé — the most recent came last week at Diamond League Brussels, when she ran 21.48. A rare example of a sprinter knocking on the door of a women’s sprint world record.

WATCH | Jackson clocks new 200m Diamond League record in Brussels:

Is this the weekend history answers?

We’ll have to tune in or log on to find out.

North American viewers will have a chance to see it in real time, on a weekend, which is a welcome change. Hardcore track nerds are used to pulling up streams of midweek Diamond League meets taking place in Europe. Back when I had to report to an office, I kept a tab open to stream track, and would write off entire afternoons of work while watching. I got hauled into a disciplinary hearing once, but talked the union rep into convincing HR to postpone it until after De Grasse ran.

Yeah, I’m a track nerd.

But most North American sports fans aren’t, even though track and field decision-makers are eager to conquer this market. It helps that Noah Lyles, who has been track famous since at least 2019, has run and talked his way on the mainstream fans’ radars. The Netflix series, scheduled for release next year, will also help engage fans who might not have paid attention otherwise. Bringing the last meet of the year to North America, and airing it when most folks are at home instead of at work should also boost the audience.

Except we’re talking about a weekend afternoon in mid-September, which means the Pre Classic is going head-to-head with college and pro football. Track and field often loses that battle when it comes to American male talent, and I doubt it’ll fare any better in the competition for eyeballs. Nobody’s beating Coach Prime this month. Not TCU. Not Nebraska. Not Lyles racing Christian Coleman.

But if the drive-by fan can spare a shade over 21 seconds on Sunday, they might catch something unprecedented.

WATCH | De Grasse, Brown among 4 Canadians at Diamond League Final:

Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown among 4 Canadians headed to Diamond League Final | Athletics North

Diamond League Brussels was the last chance for Canadians Andre De Grasse and Sarah Mitton to book their spot in the upcoming final, and they did. They join Aaron Brown, Marco Arop and some of the world’s best athletes this weekend in Eugene, Oregon. These stories and more in this week’s Athletics North recap.

In the summer of 1988 Griffith-Joyner set the world records so far into the future — 10.49 in the 100 and 21.34 in the 200 — that even just approaching those marks makes headlines. 

Elaine Thompson-Herah’s 10.54 at the 2021 Pre Classic?

Mind-blowing, even though it wasn’t a world record. No sprinter has eclipsed 10.60 since then.

Shericka Jackson’s two 21.4s this season?

Tantalizing. Next time, she might hit her target.

WATCH | Jackson defends 200m world title with 2nd-fastest time ever:

Shericka Jackson defends 200m world title with 2nd-fastest time ever

Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson wins the women’s 200 metres final at the World Athletics Championships with championship-record time of 21.41 seconds.

Of course, Flo-Jo’s record comes with asterisks. As we have discussed before, her 100-metre world record registered a 0.0 wind reading, which is a hint that the wind gauge was busted. Most sprint races feature some wind. Results count as records if a tailwind is 2.0 metres per second or lower. Carl Lewis ran 9.78 at the same meet. His wind reading: 5.2 metres per second.

There’s also the era. More correctly, The Era.

Flo-Jo’s world records straddled Ben Johnson’s positive test, and occurred back when out-of-competition drug screening wasn’t even a notion. We know Johnson’s 9.79 had chemical help, as were many world records — some that still stand — from Eastern Bloc countries. As for other records that predate widespread drug testing, skepticism abounds.

One reporter came at the topic tangentially at a post-race news conference during worlds, asking Jackson if she considered her 21.41 the true world record. Jackson chose not to engage.

“If a person hasn’t failed any test, I cannot comment on any world record,” she said. “It is the world record.”

Trailblazer

Maybe the reporter missed the memo, but people don’t talk bad about Flo-Jo. 

Wind gauge, Steroid Era, rolling start, downhill run. Doesn’t matter. It’s next to impossible to find someone willing to slight her in public.

Flo-Jo, who passed away in 1998, wasn’t just a superstar sprinter, after all. She was a style icon, with her one-legged bodysuits and elaborate, bedazzled fingernails. Flo-Jo broke records and set fashion standards, and blazed a trail that contemporary sprinters like Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Sha’Carri Richardson ably followed.

And her numbers are otherworldy. It took men’s sprinters 11 years to equal Ben Johnson’s 9.79. On the women’s side, people are still chasing Flo-Jo, the way men will trail in Usain Bolt’s wake for decades.

But this weekend, we have the last, best chance of the year to see a new record in the women’s 200. Like Flo-Jo, Jackson is a 400-metre runner who transitioned to shorter sprints. She added elite top-end speed to her toolkit without sacrificing quarter-miler strength, while mastering 200-metre nuances to become unbeatable.

Wind factor

Whether she makes history this weekend might depend on the weather.

Jackson’s 21.41 in at Worlds came with a 0.1 m/s tailwind. Flo-Jo’s 21.34 had a following wind of 1.3 m/s — helpful, but still legal. According to this calculator, given a similar 0.1 wind reading, 21.34 converts to 21.45.

Those numbers tell you that, on her best day, Jackson is right there.

She has the speed and the endurance, the race plan, the execution, a fast track and modern shoes. The world record is in play.

With a little help from the elements.