Shericka Jackson stunned in Oslo: Time to Worry?

Shericka Jackson stunned in Oslo: Time to Worry?

The last time Shericka Jackson lost a 200m race was two years ago.

19 races later, the Jamaican, who has won two world titles in that span, succumbed to her first defeat at the Oslo Diamond League. It was clear as daylight that she struggled to even be in that race. Her 22.97 finish fifth should make people ask questions about her form leading up to the crucial part of the season.

For those who are fans of numbers, this was the kind of time Jackson ran when she misjudged her race to not qualify for the semifinal of the 200m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. But then she was in great shape and had just come off from winning Bronze in the 100m at the Games. But here was different, Jackson looked out of sorts and struggled to hold her form for most of the race. Things are not looking good.

Let’s take it back a bit. Jackson raced 11 days ago at the Diamond League in Marrakesh. It wasn’t a convincing win, as she ran into a headwind of -1.0 m/s and clocked 22.82s. The alarm bells weren’t out yet despite how she came about the win. However, people see through things. It was labored and flat. It was far from the Jackson we were used to seeing dominant races in recent times.

People still gave her the benefit of the doubt as it was still her first race of the season over the distance despite her running 11.03 in Jamaica over the 100m a few weeks before that. Here in Oslo, Jackson was up against a stacked field that included Marie Josee Ta Lou-Smith, Daryll Neita, and the eventual winner Brittany Brown. It wasn’t meant to be a cakewalk, but knowing how dominant she had been over the last few years in the event, falling down the way pack with about 80m to go in the race wasn’t the plan.

So what went wrong? Early season bad form, underrating her opponents, nursing an injury, or even an early sign of decline. This is an athlete who ran 21.48s and 21.57s to finish the 2023 season in Brussels and Oregon. Her Personal Best is 21.41, 0.07s behind Florence Griffith Joyner on the all-time 200m top list. The thing is, athletes don’t just go this bad in the space of nine months. Surely, something is wrong even though it could be potentially worked on before Paris.

Jackson heads to Stockholm next…