Shelly Ann Fraser and Yulimar Rojas' record-free shine

Shelley-Ann Fraser of Jamaica, center, about to cross the finish line first in the 100-meter dash at the Lausanne meeting.

EFE / EPA / LAURENT GILLIERONLAURENT GILLIERON / EFE

It was not Tokyo, but Lausanne, and there were no world records. It was not a giant empty and hot, boiling stadium, but a small one full to bursting and enthusiastic next to a lake and spectators in light jackets holding the cool breeze that came from the mountains, which on the tartan straight was blowing in favor with a speed of 1.7 meters per second. As in Tokyo, in the fastest Olympic final in history, the first three of the 100m of the Athletissima, of the Diamond League, were three Jamaican women. And the winner's mark was one of the best in history, simply the third. But the order was not the same.

Only the third was the same, Shericka Jackson (10.92s). It was not Elaine Thompson, the queen of the Japanese night, who finished second, but her eternal rival, Shelly Ann Fraser, a rocket mom, short and 34-year-old veteran, and mother, who ran the 100m in 10.60s, the best mark of her life, the third best mark in history after the 10.49s of the world record of Florence Griffith and the 10.54s of the double-double Olympic champion (gold in 100m and 200m in Rio 16 and Tokyo). Thompson, who won in Tokyo with 10.61s, stayed in Lausanne in 10.64s, the third mark of his life. An extraordinary record, a woman had never lost a 100m in that time, but not enough to counteract the glare of Fraser, who came out of the studs as always, withering, and finished like never before, delaying the moment of maximum speed,stopping the decline and resisting the assault of Thompson, who came out from behind again and could not overcome it, as in the last races, at 50 meters, and only in the 90 meters could he breathe on the neck of the distant winner . "The body already tells me it's tired," Thompson said.

“It was cold, but I went out to do my work. Believe it or not, I have not run my best race yet ”, said Ann Fraser, a super-perfectionist woman of 1.60m tall, 34 years old, four months of 35, who in Beijing 2008 and London 2012 was the correlate of her compatriot Usain Bolt, winning the gold in the 100m, although he never made the world record. “I know I can run even faster because I have a lot of technical work to do. In the races that remain, my goal is to go down to the 10.5 range… ”.

Thompson and Fraser have encircled a world record that has already turned 33 years old (only the 34-year-old Fraser was born before), and their rivalry can help them. The next time they meet will be on Saturday in Paris. "But I don't think the record will come anytime soon," Thompson warned. “My body is already telling me that it is tired after a summer in which I have beaten my personal best four times. I never thought I would get so close to Florence Griffith, but my plans now are not breaking the record. "

In the plans of Yulimar Rojas, the only one, of course, she is breaking the record, her record, the 15.67 meters of Tokyo, triple jump, and there is no push. It is a unique and personal task in which she has embarked guided by Iván Pedroso, a technician who is like a passionate jewelery artist: he has found the nugget, the most carat diamond in world athletics, and he will not stop until he makes it shine. resplendent, to give it the most perfect shape. The Olympic champion has no rival - she wins her contests with a single jump and almost a meter apart: there is no such figure on the planet - but she has plenty of enthusiasm and courage, that the applause of the public (finally, in a competition in the last two years their rhythmic clapping for time was not answered by the echo of the empty stands) they multiplied.And in Lausanne there was also plenty of downwind and cold.

In his first attempt he went to 15.56m, a mark that would have been a world record before the Tokyo Games, but which will not go up to the

because he achieved it with 3.7 m / s of wind in favor (the legal limit is two meters per second), he made a void in the second, 15.42m in the third, from which he came out with a bad face, implying that he had jumped badly despite the fact that the mark was the third best of his life, and in the fourth, 15.52m, with only 0.6 m / s of wind, the second best mark in history but frustrating for the Venezuelan, who knows herself in the way of her life and only thinks of jumping more every day until reach, at least, up to 16 meters, the great goal of his sporting life.

"In Zurich"

"I feel in very good shape and I wanted to give a good show to the public," said Rojas, 25, the only athlete who always raises the expectation of a unique brand around her when competing. “Now I am going back to Guadalajara to continue training hard before returning to Switzerland for the final of the Diamond League in Zurich on September 9th. I really believe that there I will be able to beat my world record ”.

The third character of the night should have been Karsten Warholm, the Olympic champion and world record holder in the 400m hurdles who stormed the 400m sprint event with so much noise around that anything other than going below 44s would be considered a disappointment. In conditions of downwind in the final stretch and headwind in the counter goal, the Norwegian with 45.94s in the 400m with 10 hurdles, stayed in 45.51s in the 400m dash. "The conditions were not the best and my body responded well," said Warholm, who came out very strong, ate the wind and dived in the last 100m. “It was not the place I expected [fourth: the American Will London won, 45.17s], but it is what it is. Recovering from Tokyo is tough. "

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