Elaine Thompson: 'Jamaican weather in Brussels !'

“Believe it or not but this is Elaine Thompson sitting next to me”, said Meeting Director Wilfried Meert, referring to the new hairstyle of the Jamaican. “I’m really looking forward to this race and the weather conditions are great, they’re even Jamaican like.” But the Jamaican doesn’t want to discuss how fast she can run Friday. “We’ll see”, said Thompson.

Thompson has a personal best of 10”70, while the Meeting record of her compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce stands at 10”72. Thompson’s coach believes that Elaine is capable of running 10”60 one day. “I trust my coach and I believe what he says”, commented Thompson, suggesting that she wants to deliver something special in Brussels. “My start was always a problem, but we’ve been working hard on that this year and it paid off.”

The first goal for Thompson next Friday is to win the Diamond Race in the 100m. “It was not really in my focus at the start of the season but now that I’m close it would be great if I could catch that trophy.” Thompson leads the Diamond Race with 8 points ahead of Dafne Schippers from the Netherlands.

Elaine Thompson seems to be dominating the sprint in a way that Usain Bolt did. “Oh no I’m not the next Usain Bolt. Usain is unique, I guess that I am just the next Elaine Thompson”, said the 24-year old from Manchester, Jamaica. “After the Diamond League Final I return back to Jamaica to celebrate what I have achieved in Rio. I’ll be happy to see my family back. I’m the oldest and the only athlete in a family with five brothers and one sister.”