KINGSTON, Jamaica (April 22) – Shericka Jackson set the track on fire at the Velocity Fest 13 meet held at the National Stadium in Kingston on Saturday night, clocking a world-leading and meeting record time of 10.82 seconds (-0.1 m/s) in the 100-meter event.
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Jackson comfortably qualified for the final earlier in the day, posting a time of 11.05 seconds before storming to victory in the final.
The reigning world 200-meter champion from Oregon pulled away from her MVP teammates Natasha Morrison and Anthonique Strachan, who finished second and third, respectively, with times of 11.09 and 11.11 seconds. Jackson’s winning time improved on the previous world-leading time of 10.86 seconds set by American Aleia Hobbs of the United States at the 2023 LSU Alumni Gold.
In the men’s 100-meter race, there was a lot of drama as Ackeem Blake crossed the finish line first, but the results were not displayed, leaving him in the dark about his time. After some time had passed, the results page showed that he had been disqualified for a false start, while Great Britain’s European champion Zharnel Hughes was credited with the win, clocking in at 9.90 seconds with a hand time.
Despite qualifying for the final with the fastest time of 9.99 seconds, Blake grew increasingly frustrated as he waited for over 10 minutes for the final time to be displayed on the screen. His strong start in the final was in doubt because of the absence of an official time, and ultimately, he was disqualified from the race.
