PARIS, France, Aug 27 – Olympic 100m champion Elaine Thompson-Herah insisted Friday she was too fatigued to contemplate an assault on Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 33-year-old world record but added: “Maybe I can put all the ingredients together next year”.
Thompson-Herah ran the second fastest ever 100m in 10.54sec in Eugene last weekend but was pushed into second place at Thursday’s Lausanne Diamond League meeting by Jamaican compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
The 34-year-old 2008 and 2012 Olympic champion exacted revenge on Thompson-Herah for defeat in the Tokyo Games final with victory in 10.60sec, the third fastest in history.
The Jamaican pair are closing in on Griffith-Joyner’s 10.49sec set in 1988.
“I think I have to run in 10.48sec if I want to prove that I’m the fastest in history,” said Thompson-Herah in Paris ahead of Saturday’s Diamond League meeting in the French capital.
“It was not my goal at all this season, to break the world record, I wanted to defend my Olympic titles, but I didn’t think I could reach that level.
“A few years ago I would have thought that impossible. I think that next season if I focus on it, maybe I can put all the ingredients together.”
Thompson-Herah admitted that the toll of racing three times in seven days on two continents could be having an impact.
“I don’t know where I get all this energy, I try to train myself not to suffer too much from travel fatigue,” added the 29-year-old.
“At the Olympics I had a lot of trouble sleeping, but I found the energy to run two races a day.
“It’s our job, it has become natural for me.”
Thompson-Herah will start as favourite on Saturday at the Charlety Stadium in Paris after Fraser-Pryce pulled out citing exhaustion.
