Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson withdrew from the women’s 200-meter dash competition at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
Jackson was listed as a scratch moments before the start of her qualifying heat. No immediate reason for her withdrawal emerged.
Jackson, 30, is the event’s defending world champion and owns the second-fastest 200-meter time in women’s track and field history.
Before Sunday, Jackson had previously pulled out of the 100-meter race in Paris to focus on the 200. She noted that she’d suffered an injury during a tune-up race in July.
With Jackson out of the field, the United States’ Gabrielle Thomas is now the betting favorite to win the event. DraftKings gives Thomas (-225) and Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred (+175) the best odds of winning. Alfred is competing in the event less than a day after winning gold in the 100-meter dash, edging out American Sha’Carri Richardson, who captured silver.
Along with Jackson, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce pulled out of the 100-meter semifinal race on Saturday due to an undisclosed injury, putting the Jamaicans at risk of being shut out of the medal podium in both the 100- and 200-meter events.
The Jamaican women didn’t medal in the 100 for the first time since the 1988 games. If they don’t medal in the 200, it will mark the first time since the 1976 games.
The two Jamaicans still in the field for the 200, Niesha Burgher and Lanae-Tava Thomas (+1000), are tied for the eighth-best odds to win a medal.
