KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica's most recent national 100-meter champion sent out a post-victory message claiming he lost pace 60 meters into the race, a race in which he recorded the world's fastest time in two years.
Kishane Thompson won Jamaica's national 100m championship in 9.77 seconds on Friday night, setting himself up to follow the country's greatest sprinter, Usain Bolt, into Olympic glory next month.
“My coach told me to just run the first 60 metres and nothing more,” said the 22-year-old Thompson, who won in his first race this year. “Then just rest. If I could get second or third, I'd make the team. My goal was to just do nothing, run 70 or 60 metres and see what I could do.”
Thompson said this was his first round, having clocked 9.82 seconds in his opening match on Thursday night and staying up late with doping control officers.
Thompson beat Oblique Sevilla, who reached the Tokyo Olympic semifinals after beating Noah Lyles earlier this year.
Thompson's time of 9.77 seconds is the best since American Fred Curley won the 2022 world championships in 9.76 seconds. Thompson is now the fourth-fastest Jamaica athlete of all time, behind Bolt, Yohan Blake and Asafa Powell.
“I don't know how fast I can go, but I wasn't surprised with my time tonight,” he said.
Bolt's world record has stood at 9.58 seconds since 2009.
