Defiant Elaine
BIRMINGHAM, England — Derron Herah, coach and husband of Jamaican sprinting great Elaine Thompson-Herah, hinted that the athlete was significantly hampered by injuries at the recently-concluded World Athletics Championships and stated that despite not being at her best, she is looking forward to competing at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
Thompson-Herah, the back-to-back Olympic sprint double gold medal-winner, won bronze in the 100m at ‘Worlds’ in Eugene, Oregon — her first individual medal in the event at the championships, but looked nothing close to herself in the 200m, finishing seventh in the final.
“If Elaine can jog, she is going to go out and run so I wouldn’t even dwell too much on injuries because I mean, everybody feels stuff. Professional athletes competing at the highest level put their bodies through very rigorous regimes daily so you’re going to feel some type of discomfort, so everybody has to be able to run with and compete with it,” Herah told The Jamaica Observer on Monday.
“So at the moment there is nothing detrimental. What we are dealing with right now are things we can deal with, it’s nothing out of the norm.”
Thompson-Herah, the fastest woman alive in the 100m with a personal best of 10.54 seconds, will line up in heat 2 of the women’s 100m at 12:23 pm (6:23 am Jamaica time) today at Alexander Stadium, as athletics action swings into high gear in Birmingham.
“Once there is an opportunity to wear the national colours we always look forward to it and to perform to the best of our ability. I mean, I would think anybody representing their nation would feel the same way,” Herah added before giving his assessment of Thompson-Herah’s World Championships performances.
“It was good, based on the whole situation. In my opinion, you always go into whatever championship with injuries or whatever, and while you always go there to win, at the end of the day, everybody comes for the same thing. So the important thing is to get over that quickly and move forward. If she had won everything we would have to get over that quickly as well and carry on to the next competition,” Herah noted before adding that he is confident she will do well in Birmingham.
“So, yes I am pretty pleased. I know we may have been a few weeks behind, based on days that we had missed, but like I said, it is the situation and you have to make the best of it. So right now I am confident as always. It is Elaine, and anytime she goes on a track there can be no real limits,” Herah said.
Thompson-Herah will be looking to win her first individual medal at the Commonwealth Games after her fourth-place finish in the 200m at the 2018 instalment in Gold Coast, Australia.
She will be joined in the 100m by Natalliah Whyte and Remona Burchell with Kemar Bailey-Cole, Nigel Ellis and Conroy Jones lining up in the men’s 100m heats, which begin at 10:47 am (4:47 am).
Shawn-D Thomas will be the first Jamaican in action when he lines up in men’s long jump qualifying at 10:00 am (4:00 am), with Danniel Thomas-Dodd and Lloydricria Cameron competing in the women’s shot put qualifying round at 11:00 am (5:00 am).
Travis Smikle and Roje Stona are down to feature in the discus qualifiers which begin at 11:35 am (5:35 am), while Natoya Goule will face the starter in the 800m heats at 11:58 am (5:58 am) in a busy morning session.
The evening session will see the heats of the men’s 400m hurdles which start at 7:10 pm (1:10 pm) and will feature Kemar Mowatt and Jaheel Hyde with Hansle Parchment, Orlando Bennett and Rasheed Broadbell competing in the men’s 110m hurdles, starting at 8:05 pm (2:05 pm).
Para-athletes Shane Hudson and Jonathan Ferguson will line up in the T45-47 100m heats starting at 7:40 pm (1:40 pm) in the integrated schedule, which features both able-bodied and para-athletes.
In squash, Julian Morrison faces Zambia’s Kundanji Kalengo in the men’s singles plate semi-final at 4:45 pm (10:45 am), while Robert Simpson will go up against Madagascar’s Fairul Abd Muin in lawn bowls’ men’s singles sectional play at 11:45am (5:45 am).
Lauren Semple (63kg quarter-final) and Ebony Drysdale Daley (70kg quarter-final) will be in action in Judo, with weightlifters Chloe Whylie (women’s 76kg) and Yvgeni Henderson (women’s 87kg) also set to compete.
Welterweight Daniel Hylton faces Scotland’s Tyler Jolly in their round of 16 bout while Nathaniel Thomas and Sydrill Williams will feature in the men’s 50m freestyle heats at the Sandwell Aquatic Centre.