SHERIKA Jackson played spoiler in a race that included the three women who combined to win the last seven Olympic flat sprint titles, taking the 200m at a Diamond League meet in Rome yesterday.

Jackson, an Olympic 100m and 400m bronze medallist for Jamaica, clocked 21.91 seconds, just four hundredths off the world’s top time this year set by Olympic 200m silver medallist Christine Mboma of Namibia. Mboma wasn’t in the Rome field.

Elaine Thompson-Herah, who swept the 100m and 200m at the last two Olympics, was a distant second in 22.25, outleaning world champion Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain by .02. Shaunae Miller-Uibo of The Bahamas, who won the last two Olympic 400m titles, was fourth.

Allyson Felix, the 2012 Olympic 200m champion in her farewell season, was seventh in 22.97.
Athletes are preparing for national and world championships. For Jamaica and the US, nationals are June 23-26 with the top three in most individual events in line to qualify for the world championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July.

Jackson established herself as a medal contender in the 200m in addition to the 100m. At the Tokyo Olympics, Jackson followed her 100m bronze medal with a lacklustre opening round of the 200m, running 1.44 seconds slower than she did at trials and failing to advance.

Felix, 36, is expected to race at least the 400m at her final nationals, bidding for a spot in the eight-woman final that would likely be enough to get on the world championships team in the relay pool. Felix ranks fourth among Americans in the 400m this year with a top time of 50.71.

She is tied for sixth in the US in the 200m, which has been less of a focus than the 400m in recent years.
The Diamond League moves to Oslo for the Bislett Games next Thursday. (NBC Sports)