Surprising Victory by Kishane Thompson in Jamaican 100-Meter National Championships

On June 29, 2024, in Kingston, Jamaica, Kishane Thompson emerged victorious in the 100-meter national championship with a time of 9.77 seconds. The impressive performance placed him as a potential Olympic champion alongside Usain Bolt next month. Despite his coach’s advice to run only the first 60 meters of the race and then shut it down, Thompson managed to impress by winning the championship event with a message claiming he slowed down 60 meters into the race.

After his victory, Thompson revealed that he had never run rounds before and was kept up late with doping control officers after posting a time of 9.82 in his opening heat the previous night. He outpaced Oblique Seville, a semifinalist at the Tokyo Olympics who had earlier defeated Noah Lyles that year, with his impressive time of 9.77 seconds, which was the fastest since Fred Kerley’s win at the world championships in 2022.

Thompson is now considered the fourth-fastest Jamaican in history after Bolt, Yohan Blake, and Asafa Powell. Despite his remarkable results, he remains uncertain about how fast he can go but expressed confidence in his abilities and was not surprised by his performance that night given Bolt’s world record still stands since 2009.