Agency :
Melissa Jefferson, a college student, may have shocked with her win in Friday’s women’s 100m final. But she says she is ready for her next challenge: competing against the dynamic duo from Jamaica next month.
At the world championships, she will face Elaine Thompson-Herah, twice-double Olympic sprint champion and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, reigning world champ. They will be held at the track where Jefferson won the U.S. title.
After running a wind-assisted 10.69 second race to beat Aleia Hobbs, Jefferson said: “I haven’t (ran against them)” and he was glad he got the chance to.” Jefferson won the race in a race that also saw Sha’Carri Richardson miss the top U.S. sprinter.
Richardson was eliminated from Thursday’s preliminary.
Jefferson stated, “I’m up for any challenge and everything that may come my way.”
In just a few weeks, she has made a lot of progress. The Coastal Carolina University sophomore finished eighth in the NCAA women’s 100m final. She ran 11.24 seconds earlier in this month.
This is a far cry of Thompson-Herah’s personal best of 10.54 at Eugene last year, and Fraser-Pryce’s 10.60 in 2021. Fraser-Pryce is the best in the world with a 10.67.
Jefferson won this week, which was so surprising that Track & Field News didn’t consider her a candidate to be in the top 10 at the U.S. championships. However, Jefferson believes that her quick run on Friday will give a boost, even though she was running wind-assisted.
“Seeing that 10.69 was on the scoreboard was very surreal for me and gave me a little more self-confidence,” said the indoor women’s indoor 60m champion. She had a personal best of 10.88 seconds in 100 metres.
