&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t worry about the start; what&rsquo;s important is the finish&rdquo;. That&rsquo;s the advice world U20 100m champion Letsile Tebogo will pay heed to when he takes his place alongside some of the big names in track and field as he makes his Wanda Diamond League debut at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon on Saturday (28).
Barely a year ago, the teenager was a relatively unknown sprinter who had just started to make a name for himself in his home country of Botswana. However, Tebogo&rsquo;s career has undergone such a remarkable transformation in the past year that he has since demonstrated his readiness to roll with the big boys.
And so his Diamond League appearance in the men&rsquo;s 100m &ndash; which boasts a star-studded line up including world and Olympic medallists such as Christian Coleman, Trayvon Bromell, Andre De Grasse, Noah Lyles and Fred Kerley &ndash; will serve as a rite of passage of some sort.
Tebogo will be in good company as he also squares off with USA's world U20 200m record-holder Erriyon Knighton, who stormed to an incredible 19.49 on the same day the Botswana youngster also clocked his own world U20 100m record of 9.96, shaving 0.01 off Bromell&rsquo;s previous mark set in 2014.
The teenagers will be going head-to-head for the first time after Knighton missed last year&rsquo;s World Athletics U20 Championships Nairobi 21, which turned out to be a defining moment in Tebogo&rsquo;s budding career. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6136098f943f98a751e19ed4.jpg" alt="Letsile Tebogo and Udodi Onwuzurike" />
Letsile Tebogo and Udodi Onwuzurike (&copy; Roger Sedres)
</div>
The 18-year-old has no doubt paid his dues since switching fully to athletics in 2018 after failing in his attempt to become a football star. Hailing from a country best known for its quarter-milers who have since become household names, such as Isaac Makwala and Baboloki Thebe, the much younger Tebogo opted for a road less travelled by focusing on the 100m and 200m and has made history in the process.
At the start of 2021, Tebogo began to make waves after setting a national U20 record of 10.39 in the 100m. He also posted an amazing 20.36 in the 200m at the BAA Series Meet in April and then at the Botswana U20 Championships in May, he further lowered the U20 100m record to 10.24, making him a strong contender for a medal at the World U20 Championships in Nairobi.
There Tebogo was simply sublime as he dominated his 100m heat with a time of 10.22 in Nairobi, then raised the stakes with a national record of 10.11 to maintain his unbeaten run. He was unstoppable in the final as he raced to gold in 10.19 to become the first ever athlete from Botswana to win a global title in the 100m. He would also claim silver in the 200m behind Nigeria&rsquo;s Udodi Onwuzurike.
"I learnt that I need to put in more work to succeed all round," says&nbsp;Tebogo, reflecting on his experience in Nairobi. "However, the support from my country was really good. The secret to my spectacular performances are hard work and the people around me who motivate me."
The significance of his historic feat in Nairobi wasn&rsquo;t lost on his compatriots, as they now consider the talented athlete a pacesetter in Botswana Athletics.
"This is our first big achievement in this event (the 100m) and it shows we are cooking something good in these areas," says national coach Chilume Ntshwarang.
"Normally, our medal prospects are in the 400m, but it&rsquo;s very exciting to see us getting a medal in this event. Definitely we will be looking more at the 100m because we have young athletes who are coming up who are really good. Letsile set the pace." 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6290afb3c0070be164ac0312.jpg" alt="Letsile Tebogo with his fellow world U20 100m medallists Benjamin Richardson and Shainer Rengifo Montoya" />
Letsile Tebogo with his fellow world U20 100m medallists Benjamin Richardson and Shainer Rengifo Montoya (&copy; Roger Sedres)
</div>
Tebogo returned home to prepare for the 2022 season and started the year with a bang by setting a national record of 10.08 at the Botswana Athletics Association Championships in February.&nbsp; His next race was at the Gaborone International Meet at the end of April.
Shooting out of the blocks, the Motswana was unstoppable as he stormed past the rest of the field, which included the likes of the South African duo of Benjamin Richardson and Henricho Bruintjies, crossing the line in that world U20 100m record of 9.96. The result saw him become only the second U20 athlete in history after Bromell to run inside 10 seconds for the discipline.
"It feels really good to be called a world record-holder because it&rsquo;s something one has always dreamed of,"&nbsp;Tebogo says. "It wasn&rsquo;t part of the plan to be the first person from Botswana to do a sub-10, and so early in the season too, but we have accomplished something very huge."
It was not surprising, therefore, that Tebogo was named the most outstanding male athlete of the year by his country nearly two weeks after his world record-breaking display.
"What the country is doing is a good thing, so it helps us and motivates us to do even greater things for the country," he says of the honour bestowed on him by Botswana.
With a stacked schedule this year, which features the African Championships, the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, Commonwealth Games and World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22, not forgetting his new status as a Diamond League entrant, Tebogo is still trying to juggle the forthcoming events.
"I will go to the African Championships, World Championships and then the World U20 Championships," he says. "The African Championships is just for me to go out there and see what the big men are doing to be fast. I expect them to push me.
"For the World U20 Championships, I think I will have to go and defend my title. I still have to decide with my coach."
In the meantime, the multiple world U20 medallist is living his dreams. Sharing his advice for younger athletes who consider him a role model, he adds: "Rome wasn&rsquo;t built in a day, so they should not give up on their dreams. They should keep pushing."
Yemi Olus-Galadima

World Athletics U20 Championships

The world U20 100m record-holder has started a busy season in sensational style.

World U20 champion Tebogo comes of age ahead of Diamond League debut

It was at an early age that a young sprinter from the parish of Saint&nbsp;Catherine in Jamaica garnered attention from around the world thanks to her eye-catching performances.
Meet Brianna Lyston, who has had her fair share of setbacks since her breakthrough season but is hoping to stamp her mark at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22 in August.
Her confidence is the result of some remarkable success this season, winning all but one of her races. Two of those performances earned her&nbsp;PBs of 11.14 (0.7m/s) in the 100m and 22.53 (-2.2m/s) in the 200m.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure of how fast I can go,&rdquo; says Lyston, who prefers the 200m. &ldquo;But, I think for the World U20 Championships, I&rsquo;d like to go sub-23 seconds again.&rdquo;&nbsp; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6283dc6627554b556b05f2d3.jpg" alt="Brianna Lyston celebrates breaking the Champs 200m record" />
Brianna Lyston celebrates breaking the Champs 200m record (&copy; Athelstan Bellamy)
</div>
Lyston&rsquo;s rise to prominence started in 2017, two months out from her 13th&nbsp;birthday, at the ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Championships (Champs). There the fiercely competitive sprinter established a world U13 best and was a member of the championship record-breaking 4x100m team. Five years later, those records remain untouched.
When Lyston ran a wind-assisted 23.46 (+2.2m/s) in the semifinals to signal her arrival, many spectators shifted in their seats, while others stood up. Two days later, she stormed to a 23.72 (-0.6m/s) championship record in the final to complete a magnificent Champs sprint double. She had no idea how the achievement would suddenly affect her life. After all, it was the fastest any 12-year-old had darted around the half-lap event in athletics history. It created an unexpected euphoria.
In an instant, she became an overnight sensation. Not even the legendary Usain Bolt, with&nbsp;whom comparisons surfaced, drew&nbsp;so much attention at that age. Ultimately, it was too much for Lyston, who was not accustomed to celebrity status.
An emotionally drained Lyston went into a shell.&nbsp;&ldquo;I was very young and it had me shaken up,&rdquo; she says with a tinge of sadness.
The following year at Champs, Lyston lost to rising stars Tia Clayton and Serena Cole in the class three 100m final and was fourth in the 200m final.
In 2019, the talented Clayton twins (Tina and Tia), who were once in Lyston&rsquo;s shadow, were now occupying the front row and they finished 1-2 in both the 100m and 200m, with Lyston third on both occasions. While acknowledging the quality of the twins, Lyston reveals that she was unhealthy during those two seasons.
&ldquo;After my first year in high school, I picked up a few injuries,&nbsp;such as&nbsp;hamstrings&nbsp;and quad,&rdquo; Lyston explains. &ldquo;I overcame the quad injuries, but the hamstring injuries persisted into class two. I always competed but not at my best. It was devastating because I was not getting better or performing how I wanted to.&rdquo;
The cancellation of Champs, and by extension the track and field season in 2020, provided many athletes with more free time than usual. It was during this period of inactivity when nothing interesting was on Netflix that Lyston reflected on her past as well as planned her future. She and&nbsp;her two confidantes decided it was time for a new&nbsp;environment.
&ldquo;During the pandemic, I was sitting down and thinking about how I&rsquo;m going to advance myself and decided I should switch schools and see if things would work out better for me,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I spoke to my mom and my best friend and we agreed on Hydel High as the best option. It is a school that I admired over the years.&rdquo;
However, the decision came with consequences. She had to sit out a year based on the Jamaican high school transfer eligibility rule, which states that athletes below 12th grade who have switched schools during the year must miss the next edition of Champs. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6283dc0f27554b556b05f2d0.jpg" alt="Brianna Lyston in the heats at the CARIFTA Games" />
Brianna Lyston in the heats at the CARIFTA Games (&copy; Athelstan Bellamy)
</div>
She spent&nbsp;the time away preparing&nbsp;for the World U20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya.
&ldquo;I was still battling injuries, but I was far better than I was before,&rdquo; declares Lyston, who was relishing the opportunity to compete in Africa, a continent she had read and heard so many stories about.
While she embraced the Kenyan culture, the weather conditions were a different matter. &ldquo;The people made you feel at home, the food was good, but I never expected Kenya to be that cold. So, it was hard to adapt to the weather, we had to do extra stuff to get our bodies warm for the competition.&rdquo;
Lyston loves competing against the best and the Nairobi championships offered her that opportunity. &ldquo;It was my first U20&nbsp;championships&nbsp;and it was amazing,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;The competition was good as you met some talented athletes like Christine Mboma, Beatrice Masilingi and Favour Ofili, and it was a really good experience competing with them.&rdquo;
Lyston ran a PB of 23.18 in her 200m heat, which she equalled in the semifinals when finishing second behind Olympic silver medallist Mboma, who set a championship record.&nbsp;
In a fast final, she crossed the finish line fourth behind Mboma, Masilingi and Ofili, but a lane violation resulted in her disqualification. It was a learning moment and in the ensuing months, Lyston went about correcting that error and reinventing herself.
&ldquo;Seeing the mishap that happened at World U20s, I went back to training and worked on fixing how I ran the curve,&rdquo; she says.&nbsp;&ldquo;Also, I have been thoroughly going through my warm-ups and eating&nbsp;better, especially&nbsp;a lot of protein and drinking milk after workouts,&nbsp;and I have improved&nbsp;massively in the gym.&rdquo;
There is proof&nbsp;of those adjustments this season with a few fast times in her pet event. First, she clocked 22.66 at the CARIFTA Trials in March, followed by her stunning lifetime best of 22.53 into a 2.2m/s headwind at Champs, competing for her new school. The time erased Simone Facey&rsquo;s 18-year-old championship record of 22.71.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It was my most memorable performance to date,&rdquo; says Lyston, who was returning after a two-year hiatus.
&ldquo;I went into Champs injury free and went for the record,&rdquo; adds the 17-year-old, who now owns the girls&rsquo; 200m records for classes one and four.
Her association with record-breaking performances reached its peak at the 49th&nbsp;CARIFTA Games on 18 April. The dream quartet of Cole, Tina Clayton, Lyston and Tia Clayton &ndash; in that running order &ndash; triggered unrestrained celebrations inside Jamaica&rsquo;s national stadium when they broke the women&rsquo;s world U20 4x100m record with a 42.58 run. It improved on the previous record of 42.94 also set by a Jamaican quartet last year at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi.
&ldquo;It was an overwhelming feeling that we could do it for our country,&rdquo; says Lyston. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/625ec31934477281fb4db2bb.jpeg" alt="Tina Clayton, Serena Cole, Brianna Lyston and Tia Clayton celebrate their world U20 4x100m record at the Carifta Games" />
Tina Clayton, Serena Cole, Brianna Lyston and Tia Clayton celebrate their world U20 4x100m record at the Carifta Games
</div>
Nowadays, Lyston is more mature and prepared for interviews and press conferences. However, her biggest challenge is resisting the urge to read what detractors are saying on social media. She draws inspiration from her role model in managing high pressure situations while&nbsp;remaining&nbsp;true to herself and her supporters.
&ldquo;From a tender age, I&rsquo;ve always looked up to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce,&rdquo; says Lyston. &ldquo;I love her personality and how she conducts herself. She knows how to mix it up, she&rsquo;s outgoing and has a lot of vibes off the track but once she&rsquo;s in the zone, she&rsquo;s switched on.&rdquo; &nbsp;&nbsp;
In anticipation of&nbsp;the World&nbsp;U20 Championships in Colombia, Lyston expresses optimism.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve learned a lot from the Nairobi championships,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been working on a few things and been progressing really well.
&ldquo;I am banking on my speed endurance, which is my strongest asset, and hoping to put everything together and deliver in Cali.&rdquo;
Noel Francis for World Athletics

It was at an early age that a young sprinter from the parish of Saint Catherine in Jamaica garnered attention from around the world thanks to her eye-catching performances.

Jamaican sprinter Lyston ready to cap her comeback in Cali

Fred Kerley is an international man of mystery. He&rsquo;s a threat to win any race he enters, no matter if it&rsquo;s the 100m, the 200m or the 400m.
&ldquo;Fred is a Swiss Army knife,&rdquo; says US teammate Michael Cherry. &ldquo;He can do a lot of different sprint events.&rdquo;
Naturally, inquisitive minds want to know: What will Kerley run in June at the US Championships, where the team will be selected for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22?
&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to wait and see,&rdquo; he says.
The meeting is only four days, with three rounds in each of Kerley&rsquo;s events. He quickly puts to rest any notion he&rsquo;d attempt the triple: &ldquo;No, it&rsquo;s a lot on the body.&rdquo;
And so the guessing game begins. Kerley is the only man in history who has won Wanda Diamond League races in the 100m, 200m and 400m.
In 2019, he contested only 400m races, culminating in the bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships in Doha.
Then Kerley stunned the athletics world by skipping the 400m at the US Olympic Trials and placing third in the 100m and fourth in the 200m. He became the surprise silver medallist in the 100m at the Tokyo Olympics with a PB of 9.84. Switching back and forth between the two events, he finished his season with a spectacular 19.76 in the 200m at altitude in Nairobi. 
<div style="text-align: center;"><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6268010b2b23f0f3232fb15d.jpg" alt="USA's Fred Kerley secures 100m silver at the Tokyo Olympic Games" />
USA's Fred Kerley secures 100m silver at the Tokyo Olympic Games (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
On 16 April, the 26-year-old ran a sizzling 19.80 in the 200m at the USATF Golden Games in Walnut, California, bettering his own world-leading time of 20.04. Kerley chased down Michael Norman in the last 50 metres, his final burst taking him across the line at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event.
As Kerley&rsquo;s momentum carried him around the curve, he held his arms out wide as if to say, &ldquo;How do you like that?&rdquo;
&ldquo;Boy, is he a gamer,&rdquo; said Sanya Richards-Ross, the Olympic gold medallist and television commentator. &ldquo;He shows up in finals every single time. This young man always kind of has this chip on his shoulder. He keeps wanting to prove to us&hellip; &lsquo;Fred, we see you. You&rsquo;re a champion.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Norman could feel him. Kerley was on his right, methodically gaining down the stretch. &ldquo;You just kind of get a sense of presence,&rdquo; the 24-year-old says, &ldquo;you know what I mean?&rdquo;
Norman ran 19.83 in his season opener and tweeted after the race that he &ldquo;can&rsquo;t be too mad&rdquo; because of his fast time. He added: &ldquo;Much respect for @fkerley99 but I&rsquo;m going to need that rematch sometime this year,&rdquo; to which Kerley replied: &ldquo;Respect.&rdquo; 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Respect <a href="https://t.co/ENZi0vGAtH">https://t.co/ENZi0vGAtH</a>
&mdash; Fred Kerley (@fkerley99) <a href="https://twitter.com/fkerley99/status/1515510175066517512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2022</a></blockquote>
 While Kerley is a prolific tweeter, favouring the hashtag #IAMHISTORY, he is a man of few words.
His thoughts on reeling in Norman? &ldquo;I got the W.&rdquo;
His goals for the rest of the season? &ldquo;Win.&rdquo;
What about time-wise? &ldquo;Win,&rdquo; Kerley repeats. &ldquo;Time is not my concern, it&rsquo;s all about the Ws that come.&rdquo;
The 6-foot-3 Kerley is undefeated so far this season across all three distances. In early March, he clocked 44.47 in the 400m in a meeting in Grenada, a time that was No.1 until Cherry went 44.28 at the Golden Games, while Olympic champion Steven Gardiner has since improved the world lead to 44.22. Kerley posted a time of 9.99 in the 100m, which ranks fifth on the world list, in a meet in Florida in late March.
His next race will be a 100m on 7 May at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, this season&rsquo;s next World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting.
<h2>Renewed rivalries</h2>
Kerley says he decides which distance to run based on where his training is taking him. Of course, the 100m and the 400m place different demands on his body. One requires explosiveness, the other a tolerance to pain.
&ldquo;Both of them got to give and take,&rdquo; Kerley adds. &ldquo;One got your head spinning and one got your legs spinning, too.&rdquo;
Kerley believes his versatility can help promote his sport. He has rivals at every distance, from Norman, Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman in the US to Kirani James, Marcell Jacobs and Andre De Grasse from the international ranks.
&ldquo;Hey, I like to compete, so rivalry&rsquo;s rivalry,&rdquo; Kerley says. &ldquo;I feel like it&rsquo;s very important to have a rivalry in the sport because that&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s going to get more attention to track and field&mdash; like football and basketball. They&rsquo;ve got rivalries. But if we have rivalries between us, we&rsquo;re going to be big.&rdquo; 
<div style="text-align: center;"><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/626801f365219027c99d31f3.jpg" alt="Fred Kerley and Michael Norman go head-to-head at the USATF Golden Games" />
Fred Kerley and Michael Norman go head-to-head at the USATF Golden Games (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
Kerley and Norman are two of the three members of the exclusive, sub-10, sub-20, sub-44 second club. The other is Wayde van Niekerk, the 29-year-old 2016 Olympic champion from South Africa.
Head-to-head, Kerley has the faster time in the 100m &mdash; 9.84 to 9.86 &mdash; while Norman is quicker at the 200m &mdash; 19.70 to 19.76. Norman also has the better 400m time of 43.45 to 43.64. Van Niekerk&rsquo;s times, meanwhile, are 9.94, 19.84 and the world record of 43.03.
While Kerley and Norman are cordial, they are both also supremely competitive. &ldquo;He does the same events as me &mdash; everybody is my enemy once you touch the track,&rdquo; Kerley says.
Norman has a similar mindset. &ldquo;Nobody wants to lose to anybody,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;So every time we race each other, it&rsquo;s like who&rsquo;s going to get the best of who that race.&rdquo;
He adds of Kerley: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s cool. All respect to Fred, no beef or animosity, or nothing like that. He&rsquo;s a great competitor, he&rsquo;s a good guy.&rdquo;
Norman says their rivalry keeps the sport &ldquo;unpredictable&rdquo;.
&ldquo;When it comes having somebody who does an extremely similar thing as you,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;it just brings out the best in both of us and it elevates each other, so there&rsquo;ll be plenty more races down the road.&rdquo;
Kerley adds that marketability and popularity &mdash; the 100m is the more glamorous event in the public eye &mdash; will have no bearing on which events he will choose for the World Championships.
However, he did acknowledge last year that he does have a long-term goal.
&ldquo;I want to be a legend, like Usain Bolt,&rdquo; Kerley said.
<h2>No secret to success</h2>
Originally a 200m runner coming out of high school, Kerley moved up to the full lap in college. At Texas A&amp;M, he won two NCAA titles. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/626803120805e5d0c23187f2.jpg" alt="US sprinter Fred Kerley" />
US sprinter Fred Kerley (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
He says there&rsquo;s no secret to how he is able to compete in three distances now. &ldquo;Training,&rdquo; Kerley explains. &ldquo;Training. And training.&rdquo;
But there has to be something else.
Michael Johnson was the Olympic gold medallist and world record-holder in both the 200m (19.32) and 400m (43.18), but his best time in the 100m was 10.09.
Usain Bolt holds the world records in the 100m (9.58) and 200m (19.19), but went no faster than 45.28 in the 400m. Carl Lewis and Jesse Owens were triple threats combined with the long jump, not the quarter-mile.
Kenny Bednarek, the Olympic silver medallist in the 200m, is a member of the sub-10, sub-20 and sub-45 club.
&ldquo;What Fred&rsquo;s been doing is pretty incredible,&rdquo; Bednarek says.
He adds that the transition between events requires a lot of adjustments. &ldquo;In the 400,&rdquo; Bednarek says, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re never really explosive. It&rsquo;s more maintaining your rhythm and the lactate and see who has the most guts to finish that last 150 stretch. In the 400, you can make a mistake, but you can correct it. In the 200 and the 100, you don&rsquo;t really have time.&rdquo;
After Kerley completed his Diamond League triple last year by winning the 100m at the Brussels meeting, a certain Twitter account posed a question.
&ldquo;So&hellip; which event will @fkerley99 focus on next year? Asking for a friend,&rdquo; wrote the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
&ldquo;800,&rdquo; Kerley replied, followed by three laughing emojis. &ldquo;Naw I just playing.&rdquo;
Karen Rosen for World Athletics

World Athletics Championships, Oregon 2022

Fred Kerley is a threat to win any race he enters, no matter if it’s the 100m, the 200m or the 400m.

Versatile sprint force Kerley keeps Oregon options open

The medallists from the men&rsquo;s Olympic 100m and 200m finals in Tokyo, plus the men&rsquo;s world indoor 60m final in Belgrade, will all clash in a stacked 100m field announced for the Prefontaine Classic, part of the Wanda Diamond League series, in Eugene on 28 May.
Reigning Olympic champions Marcell Jacobs and Andre De Grasse will go up against Fred Kerley, Kenny Bednarek, Noah Lyles, Marvin Bracy and Christian Coleman, as well as Olympic 100m fifth-place finisher Ronnie Baker, at Eugene&rsquo;s Hayward Field.
They will all be looking to make their mark ahead of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 taking place in the same stadium in July.
&ldquo;I am honoured and excited to be part of this year&rsquo;s Prefontaine Classic at the University of Oregon in Eugene,&rdquo; said Italy&rsquo;s Olympic 100m champion Jacobs, who also claimed the world indoor 60m title in Belgrade last month.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be my first race in the US since the Tokyo Olympics and the adrenaline is already pumping. I can&rsquo;t wait to feel the track beneath my feet.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6106a555242dbd90615124e9.jpg" alt="Lamont Marcell Jacobs wins 100m gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games" />
Lamont Marcell Jacobs wins 100m gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
De Grasse won the 100m at last year&rsquo;s Prefontaine Classic, a few weeks after becoming a three-time Olympic medallist in Tokyo. The Canadian claimed 4x100m silver and 100m bronze in Japan along with his 200m title.
Kerley secured 100m silver between Jacobs and De Grasse in Tokyo, while Bednarek gained silver and Lyles bronze behind De Grasse in the 200m. At the World Athletics Championships Belgrade 22, Jacobs was joined on the podium by silver medallist Coleman and bronze medallist Bracy.
The men's 100m is the latest in a number of strong fields announced for the Eugene meeting. All three Tokyo Olympic medallists &ndash; Athing Mu, Keely Hodgkinson and Raevyn Rogers &ndash; will race in the 800m, while champion Mondo Duplantis will take on his fellow Tokyo Olympic medallists Chris Nilsen and Thiago Braz in the pole vault.
Michael Norman, Michael Cherry and Kirani James will race the 400m, while Rai Benjamin and Alison Dos Santos will go head-to-head in the 400m hurdles and the 100m hurdles will pit Keni Harrison against Jasmine Camacho-Quinn. Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Nicola McDermott will renew their rivalry in the high jump.

Olympic champions Marcell Jacobs and Andre De Grasse form part of the stacked field for the Prefontaine Classic

Seven reigning global medallists to renew rivalry in Eugene 100m

Fast times &ndash; some with the help of a breeze &ndash; and one speedy turnaround highlighted the USATF Golden Games at Mt SAC&rsquo;s Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, California on Saturday (16).
However, the second stop in the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold series wasn&rsquo;t as blustery as the first in Bermuda last weekend. In the final race of the meeting, Fred Kerley had a legal tailwind to prevail in the highly anticipated men&rsquo;s 200m.
With the wind gauge reading 1.6m/s, Kerley, the Olympic 100m runner-up, chased down compatriot Michael Norman and clocked a world-leading time of 19.80 to eclipse his previous best this season of 20.04.
Norman, who had an excellent start, was second in 19.83 followed by Olympic 400m hurdles silver medallist Rai Benjamin in 20.01.
&ldquo;I came in pretty confident,&rdquo; said Kerley, who has also clocked times of 44.47 for 400m and 9.99 in the 100m so far this year. &ldquo;The race felt good and I finished strong. I got the &lsquo;W&rsquo;.&rdquo;
Kerley, whose time was four-hundredths off his lifetime best, said he has only one goal leading into the rest of the season: &ldquo;Win.&rdquo;
&ldquo;The whole part of track is competing and that&rsquo;s what I love to do,&rdquo; he added.
Norman, a gold medallist in the 4x400m in Tokyo, said he understood what he did wrong in the race. &ldquo;I kind of got excited and let the race plan leave my mind,&rdquo; Norman said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t run a great race, but it was a good opener so I just need to make the adjustments.&rdquo;
Gabby Thomas won the women&rsquo;s 200m a mere 24 minutes after placing third in the 100m. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/625b5719c742b8c5781354d8.JPG" alt="Gabby Thomas on her way to winning the 200m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting at Mt SAC" />
Gabby Thomas on her way to winning the 200m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting at Mt SAC (&copy; Kirby Lee)
</div>
 Thomas, the Olympic bronze medallist from Tokyo, ran 22.02 (1.9m/s), just off the world-leading mark of 21.96 run by Favour Ofili a day earlier in Florida. In the 100m, Thomas ran a wind-aided 10.86 (3.3m/s) to finish behind Twanisha Terry at 10.77 and Aleia Hobbs in 10.80.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t expect (the turnaround) to be that quick,&rdquo; said Thomas, who had been chatting animatedly in the gap between events. &ldquo;I think I just got a little distracted with the media and talking to my coach and my agents, but it was a good warmup for the 200m and good preparation mentally.&rdquo;
Thomas also competed in Bermuda and said she was feeling fatigued after a tough week of travel. How much faster could she have gone if the 200m had been her only race instead of her third of the day? &ldquo;Oh gosh, hard to say,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;I would have liked to have dipped under 22, but you get what you get.&rdquo;
Olympic 100m and 200m champion Elaine Thompson-Herah ran the preliminary race of the 100m with a world-leading time of 10.89, then opted not to run the final.
Terry was content to claim that win with her fastest 100m, to beat her previous wind-aided time of 10.79 at the US Olympic Trials last year.
&ldquo;At least it was at my back this time!&rdquo; Terry said of the wind, which was in her face when she ran in the 200m in Bermuda, placing seventh. &ldquo;I told myself to stay patient and everything else would fall into place.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/625b56d0a0079f69f962289c.JPG" alt="Twanisha Terry wins the 100m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting at Mt SAC" />
Twanisha Terry wins the 100m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting at Mt SAC (&copy; Kirby Lee)
</div>
 Micah Williams of the University of Oregon &ndash; who hopes to star at the World Championships on his home track later this summer in Eugene &ndash; won the men&rsquo;s 100m with a wind-aided time of 9.83 (2.5m/s), with Brandon Carnes second in 9.93.
Michael Cherry powered to victory in the men&rsquo;s 400m, posting a world-leading time of 44.28. Alison Dos Santos, the Olympic 400m hurdles bronze medallist, was second in a big PB of 44.54 with Bryce Deadmon third (45.13) and Kenny Bednarek, the Olympic 200m runner-up, taking fourth (45.37).
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been training super hard, so I&rsquo;m glad I can come out and show it off today,&rdquo; Cherry said. &ldquo;Just to see that I know the sky&rsquo;s the limit the rest of the season. When you have confidence, it&rsquo;s so hard to knock it down. I just believe in myself.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/625b56efa0079f69f962289f.JPG" alt="Michael Cherry wins the 400m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting at Mt SAC" />
Michael Cherry wins the 400m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting at Mt SAC (&copy; Kirby Lee)
</div>
 Cherry said that he opened with 45.9 seconds last year and finished at 44.03. &ldquo;This year it&rsquo;s 44.2,&rdquo; he said with a grin, &ldquo;so hopefully I&rsquo;ll finish at 43.2.&rdquo;
Valarie Allman had an impressive series in the women&rsquo;s discus, topped by a best of 69.46m &ndash; exactly two metres shy of the continental record she set last week. Jorinde Van Klinken led the rest of the field at 62.91m.
Allman said she was happy to be part of the &ldquo;incredibly rich history at Mt SAC,&rdquo; where she was making her first appearance. But she said that after training in calm conditions in Texas, she didn&rsquo;t adjust as well to the wind as she would have liked to get the lift she needed.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re chasing that big one,&rdquo; Allman said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s one thing to want it; it&rsquo;s another thing to know it&rsquo;s in you and I think I&rsquo;m kind of starting to get to that spot of figuring out, &lsquo;How do I reach my potential in the moment?&rsquo; It&rsquo;s a journey, but I&rsquo;m hoping one of these days I can find it when I&rsquo;m in the ring.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/625b5757c742b8c5781354db.JPG" alt="Valarie Allman, winner of the discus at the Continental Tour Gold meeting at Mt SAC" />
Valarie Allman, winner of the discus at the Continental Tour Gold meeting at Mt SAC (&copy; Kirby Lee)
</div>
 In the men&rsquo;s discus, world and Olympic champion Daniel Stahl threw 67.65m, the second-best performance of the year behind his own 69.11m.
Tonea Marshall won the 100m hurdles in 12.46 with world record-holder Kendra Harrison second at 12.56. Tia Jones was third (12.59), followed by Tobi Amusan (12.61) and Cindy Sember (12.63).
&ldquo;You have legends in this race,&rdquo; Marshall said, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m just glad that I was able to come out on top and do what I do best, which is focus on me.&rdquo;
Brooke Andersen produced a final-round effort of 76.76m to win the women's hammer, overtaking Camryn Rogers who moved into the lead in round five when equalling the Canadian record of 75.73m.
Elsewhere in the field events, Vashti Cunningham easily won the women&rsquo;s high jump by clearing 1.96m to share the world lead, while Keturah Orji took the women's triple jump with a wind-aided 14.53m (2.6m/s).
World 800m silver medallist Raevyn Rogers opened her season with a winning run of 1:58.77, much faster than her previous openers. &ldquo;I felt free, I felt loose,&rdquo; said Rogers, who broke the collegiate record at Mt SAC in 2017 while racing for Oregon. &ldquo;I feel like I ran my best races by running free and running natural.&rdquo;
She also ran with a blue tint to her hair. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;ll be my signature,&rdquo; Rogers said. &ldquo;I feel like also this is a year of me stepping into how I feel like I am. My mom&rsquo;s like, &lsquo;Oh, maybe it&rsquo;s a phase&rsquo;. I&rsquo;m like &lsquo;no, I don&rsquo;t think I can go back to brown or blonde&rsquo;. I feel like the blue is me.&rdquo;
Two-time Olympian Devon Allen won the 110m hurdles in 13.35 after running the first round in the men&rsquo;s 100m and clocking a PB of 10.12. He opted not to contest the 100m final, but Allen is pulling out all the stops this season since it will be his last on the track before joining the Philadelphia Eagles professional football team.
&ldquo;I was hoping to go under 10 seconds in the 100m,&rdquo; said Allen. He said he&rsquo;s been working on his start and it wasn&rsquo;t very good in the hurdles. &ldquo;I thought I wasn&rsquo;t going to be as tired as I was from the 100m to that race, but it&rsquo;s OK. It&rsquo;s the first race of the season and I&rsquo;ve got plenty of time to get my fitness up.&rdquo;
In the men&rsquo;s pole vault, Clayton Fritsch and Jacob Wooten claimed the early top spot on the world list at 5.80m, with Fritsch winning on fewer misses. He cleared 5.70m on his first attempt while Wooten needed two tries.
Darrell Hill threw 21.68m to win the men&rsquo;s shot put, while Danniel Thomas-Dodd won the women&rsquo;s shot with 18.92m.
Laquan Nairn leaped 8.22m in the last round of the men&rsquo;s long jump to win with a PB. Some other excitement in the event came when a discus thrown by Laulauga Tausaga landed in the pit. Luckily, the men were between jumps.
Karen Rosen for World Athletics

World-leading marks from Elaine Thompson-Herah and Michael Cherry

Kerley flies to 200m victory in close clash with Norman at Mt SAC

There was perhaps no better indication of Marybeth Sant-Price&rsquo;s inexperience on the global stage than when she took to the podium at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
The US sprinter&rsquo;s name was announced, but she hesitated before stepping on to the platform, looking around for some sort of confirmation that that&rsquo;s what she was supposed to do. After a brief nod and smile from her fellow medallists, Sant-Price took her place on the podium and received her bronze medal.
Those hesitant and uncertain few steps on to the podium were somewhat symbolic of the journey she had been on to reach that point. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62556a51192cf24aa77910d1.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 Sant-Price&rsquo;s speed was initially discovered on the soccer pitch when she was 10 years old. Raised in the town of Parker, Colorado, she attended Valor Christian High School where she made a name for herself on the school&rsquo;s athletics team.
Before turning 18, and while in her final year of high school, Sant-Price reached the 60m final at the 2013 senior US Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, clocking a PB of 7.36. Outdoors, she went on to clock a 100m PB of 11.25 &ndash; the fastest time in the world by an U20 athlete that year.
She also earned an invitation to compete in the high school girls&rsquo; race at the Diamond League meeting in New York, where she placed second, just 0.03 behind Ky Westbrook, who went on to win the world U18 title that year. In a highly competitive field, Sant-Price beat several athletes who went on to achieve great things in the years that followed, including 2021 Olympic 4x100m silver medallist Javianne Oliver, 2014 world U20 200m champion Kaylin Whitney, 2017 world 4x100m champion Aaliyah Brown, and world indoor 60m silver medallist Mikiah Brisco.
But instead of thriving after that season like her fellow competitors, Sant-Price started to struggle.
She was recruited by the University of Oregon at the end of 2013 and she competed on the collegiate circuit throughout 2014. She became the university&rsquo;s lead leg runner in the 4x100m, teaming up with Phyllis Francis, Jenna Prandini and Jasmine Todd. But towards the end of that season, Sant-Price was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her right foot.
The 2015 season played out in similar fashion. Oregon reached the 4x100m final at the NCAA Championships on home soil in Eugene, and Sant-Price ran a strong lead leg for the hosts, but a botched second exchange ended in a disqualification for the team.
Further disappointment came when Sant-Price was diagnosed with another stress fracture, this time in her left shin. A follow-up bone density scan confirmed she had osteopenia (weak bones).
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s when the doctor said to me, &lsquo;for your health further down the road, I think you should consider medically retiring&rsquo;,&rdquo; recalls Sant-Price. &ldquo;So I did; I listened, and I took two years off.&rdquo;
She was put on a &lsquo;medical&rsquo; break, which allowed her to retain her scholarship while continuing to receive treatment for her injuries.
During her time away from competition, she called Karim Abdel Wahab, the sprints coach at Colorado State University (CSU), who had shown interest in Sant-Price when she was a high school athlete. Her sisters, Kristen and Emily, had also studied at CSU, so Sant-Price was familiar with the institution. But Brian Bedard, the head coach at CSU, was somewhat reluctant because of Sant-Price&rsquo;s unproven collegiate seasons to date.
Bedard asked Sant-Price to do a time trial in the summer of 2017 and told her that if she broke 12 seconds then she could join the squad. After Sant-Price clocked just 12.4, Wahab asked Bedard to reconsider and Sant-Price was eventually welcomed on to the team. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62556abf192cf24aa77910d7.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;My time at Oregon was a really tough period of my life,&rdquo; says Sant-Price. &ldquo;There was definitely a point in time where I thought I&rsquo;d never be where I am now. In about 2016, when I was told to medically retire, I thought that I was done. And once I thought I was done, I thought I was never going to reach my goals and dreams and the things I knew I was capable of.
&ldquo;Once I started at Colorado State University and decided to return to track, I feel like that&rsquo;s where my comeback started.&rdquo;
A bone density scan in late 2017 showed clear progress and Sant-Price was given the all-clear to resume training and competing. Although she didn&rsquo;t set any PBs in 2018, her first full season at CSU, she was simply pleased and relieved to be back competing, doing what she loves most.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say 2019 was the turning point for me and things started moving in a positive direction,&rdquo; says Sant-Price, who is married to Hunter Price, a decathlete with a PB of 8035 and a fourth-place finish at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships.
When Wahab got a coaching job at South Carolina and left CSU, Sant-Price started training with Ryan Baily, the combined events coach at CSU (not to be confused with the former international sprinter with a similar name), and they clicked almost immediately.
Sant-Price set 60m PBs in her early season races, reducing her best to 7.31, then 7.26 and 7.18. For the first time in her career, she earned an individual spot at the NCAA Indoor Championships, where she competed in the 60m.
Her collegiate career concluded at the outdoor NCAA Championships later that year, where she competed in the 4x100m. CSU may not have reached the finals, but their relay team safely got the baton around in their heat, which went some way towards banishing the demons of Sant-Price&rsquo;s NCAAs experience from four years prior. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62556a95192cf24aa77910d4.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
<h2> World stage</h2>
With her collegiate career &ndash; and her injuries &ndash; finally behind her, Sant-Price embarked on a professional career in 2020.
She competed outside the US for the first time, earning top-five finishes at races in Karlsruhe, Paris and Dusseldorf, and then finished sixth at the US Indoor Championships in Albuquerque &ndash; her highest placing at a national championships.
The Covid-19 pandemic effectively put an end to her 2020 competitive campaign, but she re-emerged in 2021, gradually chipping away at her times before clocking a 100m PB of 11.09. It was an ideal launch pad for the 2022 season.
Sant-Price&rsquo;s early season outings were encouraging to say the least. In mid-December last year, she set 60m PBs of 7.15 and 7.12. In January she set world-leading times of 7.11 and 7.08, then went even quicker in Fayetteville in February, running 7.06 and 7.04 to move into the top 30 on the world indoor all-time list.
Because she was still something of an unknown name internationally, she wasn&rsquo;t invited to compete on the international circuit, so all of her races were at collegiate invitational meetings. But Sant-Price was undeterred.
&ldquo;The race in Arkansas really showed me and taught me more about where I&rsquo;m at, the confidence I have in myself, and how fun this whole journey has been,&rdquo; she said at the time. 
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CYKd6e_BHrC/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14">
<div style="padding: 16px;">
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 19% 0;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="padding-top: 8px;">
<div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 12.5% 0;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;">
<div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 8px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: auto;">
<div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CYKd6e_BHrC/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Marybeth (Sant) Price (@_mbprice)</a>
</div>
</blockquote>
 She finished second at the US Indoor Championships in 7.08, earning a spot on the US team for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22. And her good form continued in the Serbian capital, winning her heat (7.07), placing second in her semifinal (7.05) and finishing third in a highly competitive and high quality final in an equal PB of 7.04, just behind Mujinga Kambundji and Mikiah Brisco.
In an extremely close finish, four women clocked 7.04 and had to be separated by a photofinish. Sant-Price was two thousandths of a second ahead of pre-event favourite Ewa Swoboda. She also beat the likes of Olympic 100m bronze medallist Shericka Jackson and double world U20 champion Briana Williams.
All the pent-up determination and frustration from her years on the sidelines could well have been what gave Sant-Price the edge over her competitors in that close finish.
&ldquo;It has taken a lot of determination and confidence to mentally and physically get back to the point where I&rsquo;m at now,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really proud of myself and how I went out and competed. It&rsquo;s my first senior team and my first World Championships, so I&rsquo;m happy to be on the podium.
&ldquo;I feel very proud of myself for how I handled the whole situation. We had three rounds and it was a long day, but I came out and competed really well &ndash; even though, physically, my hip didn&rsquo;t feel 100%. I still showed up and performed and that really gave me a lot of confidence.
&ldquo;I feel so vindicated and excited for outdoors and ready for what is next,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;And I know there&rsquo;s more, so that&rsquo;s even more exciting.&rdquo;
<h2>Surprise package</h2>
Usually when Sant-Price tells people she does athletics, they assume she competes in middle or long distances.
Standing at just 1.55m tall (5ft 1in), Sant-Price doesn&rsquo;t look like a typical sprinter. But she enjoys challenging people&rsquo;s perceptions of what a power-based athlete should be. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6255697d192cf24aa77910cb.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;I just don&rsquo;t look the part for a sprinter, but that drives me and makes me excited,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I like to go out and prove to people that you don&rsquo;t have to look a certain way; if you have a talent, you have a talent. I&rsquo;m tiny, but I like to go out there and compete and use my talent.&rdquo;
But with a global medal now in her possession, it won&rsquo;t be long before the wider athletics world starts to take note of the deceptively strong and speedy Sant-Price.
The World Athletics Championships Oregon22 is a huge goal for her. Not just because it&rsquo;s a global event on home soil; but because it is also where, back in 2015, her career as a promising collegiate sprinter started to unravel. To say Sant-Price has unfinished business at Hayward Field is an understatement.
&ldquo;Never let anyone define your path,&rdquo; says Sant-Price, who is still unsponsored but currently exploring her options. &ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m just touching my potential, and I could have been done a long time ago. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62556a31192cf24aa77910ce.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;The possibilities are endless and I&rsquo;m just going to take it meet by meet. I think my form from the indoor season is going to translate really well. I feel like I&rsquo;m running confidently now, I&rsquo;m running healthy now, and I&rsquo;m really excited to see what I can do outdoors.
&ldquo;I feel vindicated now, but I want to feel vindicated in Oregon this year. I want to go back and be on US soil, especially in Eugene where I originally started, and prove to myself and to everybody else that I belong, I&rsquo;m ready and I&rsquo;m here.&rdquo;
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

With years of injuries now behind her, the US sprinter hopes to keep surprising people

Following global medal in Belgrade, Sant-Price ready to prove she belongs on world stage

It&rsquo;s more often at the dining room table, when they are a few hours into an enthralling board game, that the Kambundji sisters unleash their most competitive fervour against one another.
Many think that these two Swiss sprinting icons get better from competition in training, but this could not be further from the truth. For 29-year-old world 200m bronze medallist Mujinga Kambundji, her 19-year old sister Ditaji, and the family as a whole, training is more supportive than combative. On the track, they genuinely want each other to succeed.
&ldquo;When Ditaji was younger breaking my club records, people would speculate that Ditaji would be faster than me, and made it seem like we would have some sort of rivalry,&rdquo; Mujinga said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s actually the opposite. I want her to be better than me, to break my records. I want her to experience everything I have had and more.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/622c8de6c670440c9917c1a7.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Mujinga and Ditaji Kambundji have enjoyed travelling to the same competitions on the international indoor circuit this year (&copy; Athle.ch)
&nbsp;
The sibling rivalry narrative is a relatable one, and something that many fans like to grasp on to. It is understandable, of course, to think that child athlete prodigies might grow up pitted against each other, trying to outdo one another, leading to a healthy dose of competition. Biblical and mythological lore teach us to believe that siblings are naturally sworn enemies, even if they are good friends. But the Kambundji family has taken a different approach.
Mujinga and Ditaji are the second and fourth daughters to their father, Safuka &ndash; a Congolese-Swiss track-and-field afficionado (and well-known charismatic fan in the Swiss running scene) and a Bernese mother, Ruth. As such, they grew up speaking fluent French, German, and English, and are readily accepted as Swiss icons countrywide, despite admitting that their Italian could use a little bit of work. In addition to cultivating a multi-lingual facility, their parents encouraged them to try sports. 
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CXgqD9crGSa/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14">
<div style="padding: 16px;">
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 19% 0;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0px auto 12px; width: 50px; text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="padding-top: 8px;">
<div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 12.5% 0;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;">
<div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 8px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: auto;">
<div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CXgqD9crGSa/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Mujinga Kambundji (@mujingakambundji)</a>
</div>
</blockquote>
&nbsp;
The eldest Kambundji daughter, Kaluanda, began a track programme, and found herself to be quite talented. Then Mujinga joined the club, then Muswama (who missed out on last year&rsquo;s season due to injury), and by the time Ditaji came of age it seemed like the natural thing to do.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve basically been on the track my whole life,&rdquo; Ditaji said. &ldquo;I tried a few other things, but because my sisters were finding success, it only made sense for me to join. And it&rsquo;s been much easier for me because they laid the path.&rdquo;
Now Ditaji is old enough to travel the international circuit, but they actually grew up mostly training in different environments, mainly due to the age gap. 
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CW6FmoiLe__/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14">
<div style="padding: 16px;">
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 19% 0;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="padding-top: 8px;">
<div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 12.5% 0;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;">
<div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 8px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: auto;">
<div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;">&nbsp;</div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CW6FmoiLe__/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Mujinga Kambundji (@mujingakambundji)</a>
</div>
</blockquote>
 In 2009, Mujinga won the European Youth Olympic Festival and showed an exceptional degree of potential. In 2013, she moved to Mannheim, Germany, for several years to train, and eventually broke national records at 100m and 200m. From 2016-2019, Mujinga earned bronze medals at the European Championships (100m), European Indoor Championships (60m), World Indoor Championships (60m) and the World Championships (200m).
All this time, Ditaji was at home in Bern, going to school and performing well. She always had natural speed, but when she tried the hurdles, she realised she could be one of the greatest. Ditaji won the European U20 title last year and qualified for the Olympics, where she finished eighth in her heat. She then went to the World U20 Championships in Nairobi as a favourite going into the 100m hurdles final, but an unfortunate DQ meant she lost out on podium glory. She ended her season on a high, though, by competing at the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich, where she and Mujinga finally travelled to a professional competition together. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/622c8cb9c670440c9917c198.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
Above: Mujinga Kambundji in action at the 2019 World Championships in Doha. Below: Ditaji Kambundji in action at the Muller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham (&copy; Getty Images)
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/622c8ce1c670440c9917c19b.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;Over the past few years I remember going to competitions and seeing other sisters, like Jodie Williams (28) and her sister, Hannah (23), and thought, &lsquo;That looks fun, I&rsquo;d love to do that with my sister one day&rsquo;,&rdquo; Mujinga said, who was mostly traveling alone.
Track and Field has other famous thriving sisters, like Ethiopia&rsquo;s Diababa sisters, who share four Olympic Gold medals and 15 world titles among them in middle and long-distance running. There&rsquo;s also Sweden&rsquo;s Jenny and Susanna Kallur, the Swedish twins who were dominant together on the European sprint hurdling scene in the early 2000s.
In addition to competition, one advantage siblings might have is travelling the circuit with some familiarity. Travelling around the world as an elite athlete is exciting, but it can get lonely. Moving from hotel to hotel, often not knowing the language, can be physically and mentally taxing. Being there with someone who understands you in the way that only a sibling can.
Ditaji, too, recognises how special it is that she gets to share all of these experiences alongside Mujinga moving forward, both to use her as a resource and have fun. &ldquo;I have all of these first experiences with my sister which makes it special,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;but I also get to ask a lot of advice on a lot of things now, but we&rsquo;re really good at reminding each other to have fun. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/622c8d20c670440c9917c1a1.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Having a sibling and friend around makes travelling to international competitions a less lonely experience for Mujinga and Ditaji Kambundji (&copy; Athle.ch)
&nbsp;
Having a burst of youthful energy helps Mujinga experience cities around the world, and the competitions, with fresh eyes. As Ditaji begins a full-time life on the international circuit, they are making it a priority to at least get a glimpse into the lives of people who live in the cities in which they compete. They try to carve out time to at least go on a walk and get a cup of coffee or tea in each city they travel to. And while Mujinga sees Ditaji&rsquo;s light-natured approach to competition as a virtue, and something that will likely taker her far (including breaking Mujinga&rsquo;s records), Mujinga seems to be hitting her stride more strongly than ever.
When they return to Bern together to train, they enjoy returning to a simple life, where their main off-track hobby is gardening, tending to plants, and buying new ones. After training sessions and wanting to conserve energy, they often go to the plant store to browse for plants. This has created a fun side hobby, but one that introduces new logistical problems when it comes to regular international travel. In addition to the stress of world-class competition, Ditaji is learning from Mujinga the stress that comes with leaving plants unattended. Luckily, between their mother and two other sisters, they can usually find willing plant-sitters in a pinch.
Both sisters have their main sights this year set on the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 and the European Championships in Munich in August. Before that, though, they&rsquo;ll both head to the Serbian capital later this month for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
Ditaji follows a saying Mujinga repeats frequently: &ldquo;Just get to the final, because then anything can happen.&rdquo;
Regardless of what does happen this year and moving forward, the two sisters will be smiling, and truly, genuinely, wishing the other one does her best.
Hannah Borenstein for World Athletics
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/622c8d39c670440c9917c1a4.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Ditaji and Mujinga Kambundji: siblings and friends for life (&copy; Athle.ch)

Training is more supportive than combative. On the track, they genuinely want each other to succeed

No sibling rivalry, just mutual support, between Kambundji sisters

A look back at the key moments of 2021 in the sprints

2021 review: sprints

When an athlete makes history by achieving something that has never been done before, you&rsquo;d think they&rsquo;d struggle for motivation in the aftermath.
But Elaine Thompson-Herah &ndash; who this year became the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic titles in the 100m and 200m &ndash; says winning the World Female Athlete of the Year award has simply given her more motivation for next year and beyond.
The 29-year-old Jamaican beat a high-quality list of finalists &ndash; including world record-breakers Yulimar Rojas, Sydney McLaughlin and Sifan Hassan &ndash; to secure her spot as the top woman in the sport for 2021.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very special to win this award, because I was up against some phenomenal women,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;To capture the double, repeat my titles, get the world lead of 10.54, it is just an amazing feeling.
&ldquo;The season was a tough one, but we went out there with our heart and our soul and we put on a show,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an honour to win this award and I&rsquo;m humbled to accept it. It will keep me motivated as I continue to work towards my targets.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/612187db4c5a7049da430eb2.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 Thompson-Herah accomplished her first Olympic sprint double in 2016 when she sped to 100m and 200m victories in 10.71 and 21.78 respectively in Rio. Coming just a year after her 2015 breakthrough season, in which she took world 200m silver in 21.66, it seemed as though she&rsquo;d be the next big force in sprinting, but injuries prevented her from reaching the podium in any individual event at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships.
When the achilles problems recurred in 2020, she feared it would count her out of the Tokyo Olympics. But the postponement of the Games worked in her favour.
&ldquo;I was so happy (about having a year &lsquo;off&rsquo; competing) because I was in boots recovering from an achilles injury in 2020,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Even though the achilles injury was challenging and meant I was unable to sprint or even walk at times, I continued to work. To come back from that and achieve what I did is a surreal feeling and I&rsquo;m happy and proud.
&ldquo;Every champion has struggles that they&rsquo;ve been through. There will always be obstacles and you have to learn to hurdle them &ndash; you&rsquo;re never too old to learn new stuff. I think I&rsquo;ve learned a lot over the past year, and the main thing is that I&rsquo;ve learned to listen to my body. Like any athlete who wants to be a champion, you tend to want to train through your pain, but sometimes it&rsquo;s better to rest and listen to your body, which will help you in the long run. That&rsquo;s one of the mistakes I&rsquo;ve made in the past; I&rsquo;d try to push through the pain.&rdquo;
Having smartly rehabbed her way through her achilles injury, Thompson-Herah got her 2021 season off to a strong start, speeding to a wind-assisted 10.76 and a wind-legal 10.78 in early May. She was surprisingly beaten in both disciplines in high-quality races at the Jamaican Championships, but her third-place finishes in 10.84 and 22.02 were more than sufficient to earn her places on the team for the Olympic Games.
&ldquo;You get a lot of motivation when you achieve your first victory of the season,&rdquo; she says, looking back on her year. &ldquo;You think, &lsquo;okay, I&rsquo;m ready for the next one&rsquo;, then each race comes and you want to be better.&rdquo;
Job done at the national championships, she then headed to Europe to continue her preparation for the Games and showed she was rounding into top form with victory over 100m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Szekesfehervar. She stopped the clock at 10.71, a Hungarian all-comers&rsquo; record and just one hundredth shy of her PB &ndash; but, more significantly, finishing comfortably ahead of compatriot and world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. 
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1Yz1i1GK6c0" width="100%" height="475" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
 Her Olympic campaign began three weeks later with an incredibly easy looking 10.82 100m heat win &ndash; faster than the gold medal-winning times at all but four editions of the Games. And she then went even quicker in the semifinals, winning her race in 10.76.
But even then, her margin of supremacy and winning time in the final still came as a shock. Despite running into a -0.6m/s headwind, she claimed gold in an Olympic record of 10.61 to win by 0.13 &ndash; which, in sprinting terms, is significant.
Following one rest day to reflect on a Jamaican podium sweep in the shorter sprint, Thompson-Herah was back on track for the 200m. She ran a comfortable &ndash; though borderline risky &ndash; 22.86 to advance from her heat, but then looked imperious in the semifinals as she stopped the clock at an equal PB of 21.66, despite slamming on the proverbial brakes before the finish line.
She went on to claim 200m gold in 21.53, breaking the long-standing Jamaican record that had previously been held by sprint icon Merlene Ottey, and moving to second on the world all-time list. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61093e38f92b560c3905c9dd.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 She wasn&rsquo;t done there, though. She capped her Olympic campaign three days later when joining her Jamaican teammates to claim gold in the 4x100m, setting another national record with 41.02 and exceeding what she achieved in Rio.
&ldquo;The 200m was the hardest event because we didn&rsquo;t get much rest,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Normally we&rsquo;d have one round each day, but in Tokyo we had the first two rounds on the same day, which was super difficult. In the nine months before the Games, we geared our training around preparing for that, but it was still a little bit challenging.
&ldquo;Every time I go out there, I want to be a better version of myself,&rdquo; she adds, explaining her general racing approach. &ldquo;I try to compete with myself and to nail every race I get.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/610d5041420bba34329a7272.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 That also explains why she has so much respect for Karsten Warholm, winner of the Male Athlete of the Year award.
&ldquo;I was tuned in for his Olympic final,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;45 seconds &ndash; most elite men are running that in the flat 400m! He&rsquo;s really pushing the boundaries.&rdquo;
Thompson-Herah came close to breaking boundaries in the latter stage of the season. Competing against a high-quality 100m field at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Eugene, she sped to a world-leading national record of 10.54, moving to second on the world all-time list. It was also just 0.05 shy of the long-standing world record.
It took Thompson-Herah completely by surprise.
&ldquo;The 10.54 felt kind of slow!&rdquo; she reveals. &ldquo;When I crossed the line, I didn&rsquo;t see the time straight away, but it felt sluggish and kind of awkward. But sometimes a race may not feel perfect, yet you end up running fast. When I finally saw the time, I was overwhelmed, elated, excited, everything.&rdquo; 
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zowU0sdtJSo" width="100%" height="475" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
 She hopes to return to Eugene&rsquo;s Hayward Field for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22. Although she&rsquo;d like to win multiple gold medals, as she has done at the past two Olympic Games, her main goal will simply be to win her first individual world title.
&ldquo;I am definitely looking forward to the World Championships in Eugene because I don&rsquo;t yet have an individual world title,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;The aim is to try to do the double, or even three golds. I felt the track and know what it feels like, so I am looking forward to a good championships. And it&rsquo;s closer to home, of course.&rdquo;
Before then, she may compete at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade22, but those plans are not yet confirmed.
&ldquo;The World Indoors is on my radar but I am just going to see how my body feels,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I enjoy the 60m, even though I am not a quick starter. I do need the speed, of course, and I&rsquo;d love to win my first world indoor title, but it all depends on how I feel nearer to the time. I&rsquo;m just taking things step by step at the moment.&rdquo; 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-theme="dark">
"I went very close to the world record so you know, anything is possible," hints newly crowned Female World Athlete of the Year <a href="https://twitter.com/FastElaine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FastElaine</a>. &ldquo;The <a href="https://twitter.com/WCHoregon22?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WCHoregon22</a> is most definitely my next big target." Watch this space 👀 <a href="https://t.co/ZRou2Osbh0">pic.twitter.com/ZRou2Osbh0</a>
&mdash; World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldAthletics/status/1466121743274237952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 1, 2021</a></blockquote>
 Along with winning world titles and breaking world records, one of Thompson-Herah&rsquo;s other long-term goals is to continue to inspire young athletes, particularly in Jamaica.
&ldquo;It means a lot to be Jamaican,&rdquo; she explains. &ldquo;I started running when I was about six years old, and as a young girl growing up, making the Olympics was my dream. We have the Boys and Girls Championships back home in Jamaica, which is like a mini Olympics for Jamaicans. Everybody learns to be competitive there, which we then bring into elite performance.
&ldquo;Once you turn professional, it&rsquo;s all about making a name and your own brand, but for us as Jamaicans we also want to put our little island out there. When I was younger, I&rsquo;d look up to Veronica Campbell-Brown, Merlene Ottey, Usain (Bolt) and Asafa (Powell), so for me to become one of those big stars like them, it&rsquo;s amazing.
&ldquo;My advice for young athletes would be to just believe, keep working and stay focused. The athletics world isn&rsquo;t an easy one. But put in the work, take motivation from your fans, and just have fun. If you put in the work, you&rsquo;ll get the result that you want.
&ldquo;I want to be a great athlete and a great person overall. This sport has taught me a lot, and I have learned a lot over the years. I never dreamed I could travel the world, so I&rsquo;m grateful for everything this sport throws in my hands.
&ldquo;I want to leave a legacy in this sport that will inspire the younger generation to go on and do even greater things than I&rsquo;ve done.&rdquo;
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

When an athlete makes history by achieving something that has never been done before, you’d think they’d struggle for motivation in the aftermath.

Athlete of the Year award motivates Thompson-Herah to work towards career goals

We continue our countdown to the World Athletics Awards 2021 on 1 December by taking a closer look at the achievements of the five women and five men who have this week been confirmed as the finalists for the Athlete of the Year awards.
&nbsp;
<h2>Elaine Thompson-Herah</h2>
In an outstanding year for sprinting, Elaine Thompson-Herah was the top performer in the world and became the first woman in history to win back-to-back Olympic sprint doubles.
The Jamaican got her 2021 season off to a strong start, speeding to a wind-assisted 10.76 and a wind-legal 10.78 in early May. She was surprisingly beaten in both disciplines in high-quality races at the Jamaican Championships, but her third-place finishes in 10.84 and 22.02 were more than sufficient to earn her places on the team for the Olympic Games.
Job done at the national championships, Thompson-Herah then headed to Europe to continue her preparation for the Games and showed she was rounding into top form with victory over 100m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Szekesfehervar. She stopped the clock at 10.71, a Hungarian all-comers&rsquo; record and just one hundredth shy of her PB &ndash; but, more significantly, finishing comfortably ahead of compatriot and world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. 
<iframe title="vimeo-player" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/649130096?h=f560ddcc79" width="640" height="640" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
 In her final outing before heading to Tokyo, Thompson-Herah claimed a confidence-boosting victory over 200m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Gateshead, confirming she was ready to defend her Olympic titles in the Japanese capital.
Her Olympic campaign began with an incredibly easy looking 10.82 100m heat win &ndash; faster than the gold medal-winning times at all but four editions of the Games. And she then went even quicker in the semifinals, winning her race in 10.76.
But even then, her margin of supremacy and winning time in the final still came as a shock. Despite running into a -0.6m/s headwind, she claimed gold in an Olympic record of 10.61 to win by 0.13 &ndash; which, in sprinting terms, is significant.
Following one rest day to reflect on a Jamaican podium sweep in the shorter sprint, Thompson-Herah was back on track for the 200m. She ran a comfortable &ndash; though borderline risky &ndash; 22.86 to advance from her heat, but then looked imperious in the semifinals as she stopped the clock at an equal PB of 21.66, despite slamming on the proverbial brakes before the finish line.
After promising more, she delivered more in the final. She claimed 200m gold in 21.53, breaking the long-standing Jamaican record that had previously been held by sprint icon Merlene Ottey, and moving to second on the world all-time list.
&ldquo;The ups and downs (since the 2016 Olympics) have been so many,&rdquo; she said after her 200m victory. &ldquo;To come here five years later and to win two events is just amazing.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61055066a77afcf45a2f9b16.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 She wasn&rsquo;t done there, though. She capped her Olympic campaign three days later when teaming up with her Jamaican teammates to claim gold in the 4x100m, setting another national record with 41.02.
&ldquo;The feeling is surreal to capture three golds and we got a national record,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We are grateful."
Many would have forgiven Thompson-Herah for taking her foot off the gas after the euphoria of her Olympic triple triumph, but she stunned the world yet again in her first race after the Games. Up against another high-quality 100m field at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Eugene, she stormed to victory in 10.54, consolidating her position as the second-fastest woman in history for the event.
She rounded out her season with a 10.64 run in Lausanne, finishing a close second to Fraser-Pryce, and victories in Paris (10.72) and at the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich (10.65) &ndash; her 15th sub-11-second performance of the year.
&ldquo;It was a long season with ups and downs,&rdquo; said the 29-year-old. &ldquo;But next year, the world record is definitely on my mind.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<h2>Karsten Warholm</h2>
The men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles final in Tokyo was, without doubt, a defining moment for the sport.
The World Championships final in 2019 provided just a small taste of what to expect when Norway&rsquo;s Karsten Warholm held off USA&rsquo;s Rai Benjamin to retain his title. And while the pandemic forced the postponement of the Olympics, it also increased the anticipation for the most hotly contested discipline of the No.1 sport at the Games.
Benjamin was the first to show his cards in 2021. The talented all-round sprinter clocked a world-leading 47.13 in early May and followed it with victory at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Doha. Warholm, meanwhile, opened his outdoor campaign by breaking his own world best in the 300m hurdles with 33.26.
Benjamin then responded with a 46.83 run to win the US Olympic Trials, displacing Warholm in the No.2 spot on the world all-time list and coming within 0.05 of the long-standing world record. But Warholm, in his first 400m hurdles race of the year, finally accomplished what he&rsquo;d been threatening to do for the past few years and broke Kevin Young&rsquo;s world record with a 46.70 run at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Oslo. 
<iframe title="vimeo-player" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/649139540?h=dcec21021c" width="640" height="640" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
 "It has been really tough sitting at home and doing hard work and knowing that people are taking a shot at that world record for a long time, and seeing how Rai ran at the Trials,&rdquo; said Warholm. &ldquo;All respect to my competitors but it's very special and nice for me to be able to be the first to break that world record. It was important to me. It&rsquo;s also very special to do it here in Bislett in front of a great crowd, and I really think there is more in the tank.&rdquo;
He wasn&rsquo;t wrong. He won in Monaco eight days later with 47.08, improving on his own meeting record set 12 months prior, confirming all was on track for the Olympics later that month.
Warholm breezed through the rounds in Tokyo, winning his heat in 48.65 and his semifinal in 47.30 &ndash; faster than his gold medal-winning times at the past two World Championships and the 2018 European Championships. All the big contenders, Benjamin included, also safely advanced to the final, setting the scene for a mouth-watering showdown.
It didn&rsquo;t disappoint. The duo pushed one another the entire way, but Warholm ultimately proved the strongest, edging ahead in the closing stages to cross the line victorious.
Then people looked to the clock, and for a brief moment it appeared as though the figures may be incorrect. Surely it wasn&rsquo;t possible for a human to break 46 seconds for the event? But then, Warholm has always seemed borderline superhuman. And soon his winning time was confirmed at a staggering 45.94.
In what will go down as not only the best ever 400m hurdles race but one of the greatest moments in athletics history, the rest of the field produced stunning times too. Benjamin finished second in 46.17 &ndash; well inside the previous world record &ndash; and Brazilian youngster Alison dos Santos claimed bronze in 46.72, faster than Young&rsquo;s pre-2021 world record time. The athletes in fourth, fifth and sixth all finished comfortably inside 48 seconds. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6108e095315c5c8e31410f1f.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;This is by far the biggest moment of my life,&rdquo; said Warholm. &ldquo;Last night I had this special feeling in my chest when I'm nervous. It's the feeling I had as a six-year-old on Christmas Eve. It's a feeling you don't think you'll ever have again. But I had it last night.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just so big,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;I had a world championships (gold). I had European championships. I had the world record, the European record. The Olympic gold medal is what everybody talks about. I knew this race was going to be the toughest of my life, but I was ready.&rdquo;
He maintained his 400m hurdles winning streak after the Olympics, claiming the Wanda Diamond League crown in Zurich in 47.35 before wrapping up his season with victory at the ISTAF meeting in Berlin.
Even then, almost six weeks after his triumph at the Games, few had managed to contextualise what Warholm had achieved in Tokyo. But perhaps his arch-rival Benjamin put it best when, in the aftermath of the Olympic final, he said: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Usain Bolt&rsquo;s 9.5 was better than this.&rdquo;
And not many would disagree.

We take a closer look at the achievements of the five women and five men who have been confirmed as finalists for Athlete of the Year.

Focus on finalists: Elaine Thompson-Herah and Karsten Warholm

Some 17 months before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Asimenye Simwaka&rsquo;s name was only synonymous with women&rsquo;s football in Malawi, owing to her scoring finesse with club and country.
Simwaka had neither trained in athletics nor competed in any race in the s-shaped former British colony, which shares borders with Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia in Southern Africa. Yet all that changed in the blink of an eye on 16 February 2020 for the fourth born in a family of seven.
In her base of Mzuzu City located in the Northern Region, fortune flirted with coincidence, giving birth to Simwaka&rsquo;s bouncy athletics career. On that day, the 24-year-old heard on the radio that a national cross country championship would take place a few kilometres away at Mzuzu Golf Club.
Out of sheer adventure and fun, Simwaka decided to go and witness the cross country, only to end up registering and competing with resounding success.
Little wonder, when asked about that day, that Simwaka seemed to have stored its sights and sounds in the safest corners of her memory bank away from the reach of forgetfulness.
&ldquo;How can I forget that day?&rdquo; Simwaka says when asked about her memories of her debut into athletics.
&ldquo;I remember vividly everything about that day. I left home and went to Mzuzu Golf Club where the cross country was to take place.
&ldquo;When I arrived at the club, I saw athletes registering in order to participate in the race. For a moment, I thought it was only for selected people. I went closer, mustered courage, then decided to register for participation. Being my first time, you would have thought I would go for the juniors&rsquo; category but somehow, I found myself registering for the senior women&rsquo;s 10,000m category.&rdquo;
The sight of experienced runners Mary Kamwendo and Caroline Mhango did not deter Simwaka, who had arrived at the venue dressed in a pair of shorts and a vest.
Finally, the race started. Off went Simwaka, anonymous at first in the crowd of runners before finally bursting clear, one by one leaving her closest pursuers in her wake as if she were a seasoned runner.
Onlookers were stunned. Simwaka, too, was surprised by herself, even more so when she eventually won the gold medal in 42:48 after seeing off 19 other runners.
She repeated that feat by also being part of the team that claimed first place in a relay race for 10,000m. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6183eb70a3634e556560ed31.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Simwaka would go on to switch cross country for sprint events (&copy; Getty Images)
 &ldquo;It was just the stuff of pure dreams,&rdquo; Simwaka recalls. &ldquo;I could not believe that I had won gold from such a field of experienced athletes. Not only was this my first-ever involvement in athletics, but also I had never been trained in athletics.&rdquo;
Simwaka received &euro;37 (35,000 Malawian Kwacha) prize money and a medal.
That was not all. She received more tokens of appreciation&nbsp;from well-wishers, including a traffic police officer who offered to be her sponsor.
&ldquo;That day, before I won the prizes, I just didn&rsquo;t have anything on me and I needed money badly. Thankfully, I got it,&rdquo; Simwaka says.
In total, she went home with &euro;80 (75,000 Malawian Kwacha); quite a fortune considering that her parents needed money that day.
&ldquo;I remember that things were not OK at home when I left, so I gave my parents part of the money to buy groceries and I spent the remainder on my personal needs,&rdquo; she says
Now Simwaka is the undisputed poster girl for Malawi athletics after having shattered national records in continental competitions and at the Tokyo Olympic Games. 
<h2>National athletics team call-up</h2>
Winning the cross country paved the way for her call-up to the national athletics team that was preparing for the Olympic Games.
It was during the team camp that the coaching panel switched Simwaka from long distance to sprint events. Eventually, she made the athletics team that traveled to Zambia for Olympic qualifying races and her results kept improving.
She started with 24.19 for 200m at an All Comers Meet race held at the National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka, Zambia, on 10 March, also running 57.46 for 400m on the same day. Events in April and May followed.
Then, in the final qualifying tournament held in June, Simwaka broke the national 200m record at the Cameroon Championships, clocking 23.51 at the Stade Omnisports Ahmadu Ahidjo, Yaounde.
At the same venue, she ran 52.57 for 400m, getting mightily close to becoming the first athlete from Malawi to qualify for the Olympics.
&ldquo;I was milliseconds away from qualifying,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I challenge you that with adequate training, incentives and better facilities, I can make it and become the first-ever qualified athlete from Malawi.&rdquo;
While Asimenye did not earn Olympic qualification, she did make the Malawi team for the Games on solidarity.
Once at the Olympics, Simwaka clocked 11.76 to finish second in the 100m preliminary round, breaking Susan Tengatenga&rsquo;s 12.25 national record which had stood for 12 years. She then improved to 11.68 to finish eighth in the first heat. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6183efaba451a34b362f6f79.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Asimenye Simwaka races in the first 100m heat at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games&nbsp;(&copy; Getty Images)
 Such a record was not enough for Simwaka to reach the semifinals, but she earned a ticket to the African Championships and learned a lot at the Olympics after rubbing shoulders with some of the best athletes in the business.
&ldquo;I learnt that winning a race is also about how you start,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Previously, I would start a race anyhow, but I realise that the acceleration has to start with the speed of the feet.&rdquo;
There is no doubt that Simwaka is now Malawi&rsquo;s trending star athlete; a holder of national records in the 100m, 200m and 400m.
All that for an athletics career barely six months old. 
<h2>Balancing football and athletics</h2>
As soon as Simwaka returned from the Olympics, she switched her allegiance to her first love, football, as a key member of Mzuzu-based top club Topic Sisters and the national team. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61924e5f1d3ea127ec7e6672.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Footballer&nbsp;Asimenye Simwaka (&copy; Malawi Olympic Committee and Football Association of Malawi)
 Soon she joined Malawi camp training ahead of the COSAFA Women's Championship in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. At the same time, the Athletics Association of Malawi (AAM) came calling, asking that the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) release the footballer turned sprinter to participate in a national championship at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.
Simwaka did make the women&rsquo;s football team for South Africa, where Malawi lost 2-1 to South Africa and beat Angola 2-0 and Mozambique 3-2 in the group stages before sneaking through to the semifinals.
In the last-four stage, Malawi met South Africa again and this time around, Simwaka helped the squad to beat the hosts 3-2 to reach the final for the first time.
Malawi eventually lost 1-0 to Tanzania in the final, played at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, but such a defeat did little to dampen the contribution of Simwaka and the national team. A day after their arrival from South Africa, Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera hosted the women&rsquo;s football team for a dinner at the State House in the capital Lilongwe, where each player received money as a token of appreciation.
With such success in both sports, Simwaka&rsquo;s sights remain on both the running track and football field, despite the different dynamics of the two disciplines.
&ldquo;I cannot say which one is easier,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;but with football, you need to exercise caution to avoid injuries as the game involves physical contact, whereas in athletics, you focus on yourself.&rdquo;
Peter Kanjere for World Athletics

Some 17 months before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Asimenye Simwaka’s name was only synonymous with women’s football in Malawi.

How switching the pitch for cross country paid off for footballer and sprinter Simwaka

Beyond the headline-grabbing rivalry of Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah and world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, there has been another remarkable Jamaican sprinting success story from 2021.
Shericka Jackson completed the Caribbean nation&rsquo;s Olympic medal sweep by taking bronze in the women&rsquo;s 100m behind the illustrious duo. But she can justifiably stake a claim to being the most talented all-round sprinter of them all, having become the first Jamaican woman to run under 11 seconds for 100m, under 22 seconds for 200m and under 50 seconds for 400m.
She is only the 10th athlete ever to achieve all three landmark times in the women&rsquo;s sprints, and only the third since 2000, following in the hallowed spike marks of Olympic gold medallists Allyson Felix and Shaunae Miller-Uibo. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6151c40c912d7f745f03fef8.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 Jackson&rsquo;s best over 400m came at the 2019 World Championships in Doha where 49.47 earned her bronze, and this year she slashed her 100m best to 10.76 in Tokyo and her 200m best to 21.81 at the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich.
As a double world bronze medallist and 2016 Olympic bronze medallist over one lap, Jackson is no stranger to speed. But few recognised her potential at the short sprints. &ldquo;Because I have always run 400m, a lot of people don&rsquo;t actually know how good a talent I am,&rdquo; she says.&nbsp; &ldquo;I am so grateful for this year. This year has led to so many people who never knew, to see I had that talent.&rdquo;
What a year it was. As well as earning 100m bronze in Tokyo, she added 4x100m gold and 4x400m bronze for a unique hat-trick. The only real blot on an amazing year came in the Olympic 200m, when she misjudged her finish, eased up too much and was eliminated in the heats. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6151c488912d7f745f03ff04.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;It was a fantastic season. I can&rsquo;t complain,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;There were ups and downs. There were some lessons that I had to learn. I have learned so much from this year just sprinting. I have run personal bests, won medals, it was a wonderful season for me.&rdquo;
She is also philosophical over her error in the 200m.
&ldquo;I never lost focus and I said, &lsquo;everything happens for a reason&rsquo;. I may not know the reason. I may have a goal that I go into a championship with and the goals that I have set myself, but God may not have planned the same for me.
&ldquo;But for people to see how great an athlete I can be, to run great for 100m to 400m, it&rsquo;s a good feeling,&rdquo; she adds. &ldquo;A lot of people never knew I was that good. In 2019, I ran the 400m and got a medal, then I came back and ran the 4x400m relay and I ran 4x100m. Basically, it went unnoticed because most people watch the (short individual) sprints.
&ldquo;So, this year I was able to sprint and run a leg of the 4x400m. That was a great moment for me after the disappointment of the 200m. Well, I wouldn&rsquo;t call it a disappointment &ndash; it was a lesson I have to learn.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6151c3e5912d7f745f03fef5.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 The postponement of the Olympics to 2021 was also a blessing for Jackson. &ldquo;After the 2019 season, in the November, I did an X-ray and found I was running on two stress fractures. For me to be here in 2021 is such a good feeling.
&ldquo;In 2020, I struggled so much,&rdquo; added Jackson, who recorded season&rsquo;s bests of 22.70 for 200m and 51.76 for 400m during her brief 2020 campaign. &ldquo;I kept going because I never wanted to take one full year off and not do any activity. It was mentioned about doing surgery, but I never wanted to do that. I had a teammate who did that, and it was good for him, but by observing and listening to him, I just never wanted to be in that position.
&ldquo;I stopped competing in August of last year and took some time off. I spent most of the time in the pool. When I found out in November (2019), I never started training back again until March which was a struggle, because at that time they hadn&rsquo;t yet put off the Olympics.
&ldquo;I was really worried, I wanted to get back. But when I found out they had postponed the Olympics, it was a really, really good thing for me. I just continued to work on where I was, working with the physio. We did a lot of pool stuff and she helped me so much with the healing. I&rsquo;ve been to so many physios where it wasn&rsquo;t working, so for her to work with me it was such a good feeling. I am so grateful.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6151c43c912d7f745f03fefe.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 Even more remarkably, Jackson spent a chunk of her season still training for 400m before turning her attentions to the 100m and 200m.
&ldquo;A lot of people don&rsquo;t know, half of this season I was training for the quarter mile,&rdquo; she admits &ldquo;It was only once the season got underway that I realised I was going to sprint (shorter events). I had a strain, but I was speedy, so it was a good switch for me.&rdquo;
She opened her European season at the Diamond League meeting in Gateshead on 23 May with a 400m of 53.40, below her typical form. But six days later, she turned her season round with a swift 11.02 over 100m back in Jamaica, her previous best being 11.13 from 2018. In discussions with her coach Paul Francis, they decided to change tack and instead focus on the 200m, also tackling the 100m in a bid to earn a relay spot.
The results went way beyond expectations. At the Jamaican Championships and Olympic Trials, Jackson finished second in the 100m in 10.82, having clocked a PB of 10.77 in the semifinals, and then followed it with a 21.82 run over 200m, both times behind Fraser-Pryce and just ahead of Thompson-Herah, which earned her individual selection in the short sprints and two relay spots at the Tokyo Olympics.
Beyond her success in Japan, Jackson also enjoyed success on the Wanda Diamond League circuit, including victory over 200m in Stockholm (22.10) and second place in the Final at Zurich in 21.81. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6151c466912d7f745f03ff01.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 After finishing her season at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold Meeting in Zagreb with another second-place finish, Jackson was looking forward to some well-earned down time after her whirlwind season.
&ldquo;For me, I am just going to have some junk food for one week. I don&rsquo;t want to have too much weight to lose,&rdquo; she smiles. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have a nice bit of relaxation, eat some nice food and probably go to the hotel. I&rsquo;m not too much of a fussy person, I like to relax, I like to read, listen to music. They are things I will do in my off season.&rdquo;
But the fires are already burning inside for the possibilities that lie ahead.
&ldquo;I am willing to run all events,&rdquo; says Jackson, not ruling out a return to the one-lap sprint. &ldquo;If my coach says we will run the 400m, I am always up for it. I like to challenge myself. I don&rsquo;t limit myself to what I can do. I go after what I want, I work really hard. If it means going back to the 400m next year, I am definitely up for that task.
&ldquo;But for me, I love challenges and this year was one of them. The sprinting challenges me a lot. If my coach and I discuss that and I go back to the 400m, I have no problem. It is not a problem to run all events.&rdquo;
Chris Broadbent for World Athletics

One of the most remarkable Jamaican sprinting success stories from 2021