REIGNING Olympic sprint double champion Jamaican Elaine Thompson continued her superb form at the 14th staging of the Jamaica International Invitational (JII) at the National Stadium in Kingston with an easy victory in the women’s 200 metres.
The 24-year-old Jamaican won the race in a new meet record time of 22.09 seconds, an effort which equaled the fastest time in the world this year.
Americans Tori Bowie, on April 20 in Gainesville, Florida and Deajah Stevens, on May 14 in Eugene, Oregon both recorded 22.09 to jointly hold the fastest time in the world this year.
Thompson’s effort in the 200 metres came seven days after she clocked a world leading 10.78 seconds to outclass her rivals in the women’s 100 metres at the second meet of the 2017 Diamond League series in Shanghai, China.
The 10.78 clocking was Thompson’s fourth fastest performance of her career, just 0.08 shy of her personal best, in what was her first race in the Chinese port city.
That victory for Thompson came just a week after she outraced world 200m champion Dafne Schippers in the 200-metre race in Doha, the first meet of the series, clocking a season best 22.19.
Prior to that performance in Doha, Thompson illustrated her sound form this season with a wind-assisted 10.75 (+2.2) in Kingston.
The Jamaica International Invitational is the first meeting of the 2017 IAAF World Challenge series.
The series comprises 10 meetings to be held in as many countries over the course of the late spring and summer, concluding with the Rieti Meeting in Italy.
In between, the series traverses the globe, with stops in São Bernardo do Campo (Sao Paulo), Hengelo, Turku, Ostrava and Madrid before the IAAF World Championships London 2017.
It will then pick up again with stops at long-time fixtures, Berlin and Zagreb, before the finale in Rieti.(Sportsmax).