TOKYO — Elaine Thompson-Herah won the women’s 100-meter gold medal for the second consecutive Olympics, edging out her 
Jamaican teammate Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Shericka Jackson won the bronze, completing a Jamaican sweep of medals — the country’s first three medals of the Games.
Thompson-Herah, 29, set an Olympic record with her time of 10.61 seconds and was 12-hundredths of a second off the world record set by Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988. Fraser-Pryce, who led midway through the race, was overtaken by Thompson-Herah at about the 60-meter mark.
After two days of heats, the athletes have been calling the Olympic Stadium track fast — “superfast,” as Fraser-Pryce
put it. And the women’s 100 final was just that, with Thompson-Herah’s Olympic record and Jackson’s personal best time of 10.76.
Fraser-Pryce relies heavily on her start and needed to build an early lead over Thompson-Herah of at least a couple of meters if she was to win. But Thompson-Herah had one of the best starts of her career and stayed close to Fraser-Pryce during the acceleration phase of the race — up to 30 meters or so.
Thompson-Herah and Fraser-Pryce begin to separate themselves from the pack. But Fraser-Pryce had to know she was in trouble with Thompson-Herah already by her side. The early gap Fraser-Pryce needed simply didn’t exist.
Fraser-Pryce and Thompson-Herah appeared to be moving in sync for much of the middle portion of the race, but eventually the taller Thompson-Herah would use her longer strides to create a higher top-end speed, and maintain it longer. At about 60 meters into the race, Thompson-Herah began to overtake Fraser-Pryce.
Thompson-Herah maintained more speed in the latter part of the race and extended her lead during the final 20 meters. Jackson, the bronze medalist, closed well, almost passing Fraser-Pryce. It was an impressive sprint and finish for Jackson, a 400-meter specialist who doesn’t possess the same top-end speed as the other two medalists. Thompson-Herah remained tall and loose in the final meters, and showed why she is considered a fast closer — her long legs carried her well over two meters per stride; longer, and faster, than Fraser-Pryce’s.
Four in a row for Jamaica
Thompson-Herah’s win extends Jamaica’s Olympic reign in the women’s 100-meter dash to four straight golds, starting with Fraser-Pryce’s victory at the 2008 Games in Beijing.
— The New York Times