Elaine Thompson-Herah rockets towards immortality as track’s sprint queen

The Jamaican’s scorching world-leading 10.54 at the weekend backed up her Olympic gold and, as Jack Rathborn argues, propels her into the all-time great conversation

Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica celebrates winning the 100m race during the Wanda Diamond League Prefontaine Classic (Getty)

It took Elaine Thompson-Herah longer than her race to realise the magnitude of her latest sizzling performance: 10.54.

Confirmation of the second-fastest women’s 100m time in history eventually arrived to send the Jamaican stumbling backwards in disbelief at the shiny new Hayward Field.

The double-double Olympic champion wheeled away in delight as a sheepish Sha’Carri Richardson swiftly exited the stage, snubbing the customary pleasantries among her fellow athletes at the stacked Diamond League Prefontaine Classic in Oregon.

The American, 21, had made noise throughout the Tokyo Olympics about her absence - due to a failed drugs test for marijuana - having run 10.72 earlier in the year, which sits sixth in the all time list. She even posed the question mid-Games: “Missing me yet?”

Many went as far as to suggest the race would forever hold an asterisk in her absence, but Thompson-Herah has since wiped out any hint of speculation with another emphatic victory, heading another Jamaican 1-2-3 with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson in second and third respectively.

Such is her supremacy that the women’s 100m went from being one of the most captivating and wide-open races in Olympic history to an event that might now boast the greatest of all time in her prime.

Soon after the race, Richardson could be heard ranting to the cameras about not being written off, which would be a daft conclusion given her youth and the evident difficulties she has experienced over the past couple of months in her personal life. The glaring spotlight has been unforgiving following the tragic discovery of her biological mother’s passing and the hope is that she can gather herself to return stronger after absorbing some valuable lessons.

But amid all the noise from Richardson, perhaps it is time to further acknowledge and appreciate the greatness of Thompson-Herah, who has indeed catapulted herself from out in the cold with injuries in the build-up to Tokyo 2020 towards immortality on the track.

Emulating compatriot Usain Bolt by capturing 100m and 200m gold in three consecutive Olympic Games would be truly special and that is now within her grasp. But there is enough intrigue before even considering Paris 2023 to further bolster her status as the undisputed sprint queen. There is the dubious nature of Florence Griffith-Joyner’s record-breaking performances in and around the controversial Seoul Olympics in 1988, while Thompson-Herah will surely be motivated by Fraser-Pryce’s longevity and her own legendary status.

It is her compatriot’s consistency, with four World Championship gold medals to compliment her back-to-back 100m golds at Beijing and London, that elevates her above Thompson-Herah for the time being.

Without an individual gold in a World Championships, Thompson-Herah can rectify that minor blemish with two opportunities in two years at Eugene 2022 and Budapest 2023, while 10.48 is also now in sight: a mark that would banish any cynicism surrounding the event’s pinnacle.

“I’m excited and grateful and yes [the world record is a target], because I ran 10.61 and I ran 10.54 which means I’m close of course,” Thompson-Herah said following her latest victory. “There’s some more work to do, but it’s a target of course.”

A hat-trick of spectacular performances cannot be ruled out over the coming weeks as the sport builds up to the Diamond League final in Zurich on 8 September.

But for now Thompson-Herah can revel in her excellence and the glittering road towards immortality.