Shericka Jackson storms to gold in the Track & Field Worlds women's 200m final

Jamaica's Shericka Jackson set the second-fastest women's 200m time in history as she blazed to victory in 21.45 seconds in the final of the World Athletics Championships in Oregon. Her compatriot and world 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was second, while GB's defending champion Dina Asher-Smith won bronze.

In a highly anticipated final that had the Hayward Field crowd in raptures, Jackson stormed around the bend, bearing down on and passing Fraser-Pryce as she entered the home straight.

When she crossed the finish line, she shouted with joy as she realised she had won her first world title. The Tokyo 2020 100m bronze medallist can now add world 200m gold to her name after a sensational performance in Oregon.

Jackson's Tokyo experience was tinged with disappointment after she misjudged the heats of the 200m event, slowing at the line and eventually missing out on the semi-final by one-thousandth of a second.

This win will represent sweet redemption for the now second-quickest 200m runner of all time, who sits behind only Florence Griffith-Joyner (21.34) in the list of all-time fastest 200m runners.

For Fraser-Pryce any disappointment will be tempered by the fact she won a spectacular gold in the 100m competition just four days ago - her fifth world title in the event.

Team GB's Asher-Smith looked thrilled with her bronze medal after injury set her on the road to disappointment at last year's Olympics in Tokyo where she pulled out of the 200m competition.

But for Jackson, an athlete who until last year refused to call herself a sprinter after concentrating for years on 400m running, this victory - and the time that secured it - surely puts her into the league of the greats.

READ MORE: Here’s a look at the daily schedule and highlights

Shericka Jackson "the fastest woman alive" over 200m

An elated Jackson spoke after the race about the pride she felt at becoming not only world champion but also the fastest female 200m alive today.

"I am feeling great once I came out and put on the show," she said. "The fastest woman alive, the national and championships record, I cannot complain."

When asked about how she felt about Jamaica securing a 1-2 in the final, after the sweep of the podium they achieved in the 100m, Jackson nodded to the Jamaican roots of Britain's Asher-Smith who had finished third.

"Yes, we were hoping for 1-2-3 but Dina is a Jamaican, so we take that for now!

"We are so grateful for 1-2, we came out here to do our best and our best was good enough. We delivered big, two medals for our country."

And of recovering from her Tokyo heartbreak where she crashed out in the heats, the new world champion finally feels ready to look her past demons in the face.

“Finally I can go back and watch the heats of the 200 at the Olympic Games. I’ve never watched it. I never wanted it to play on my mind mentally to say, 'ok, it might happen again', I just wanted to get past it...

"Now that I'm world champion and I've bounced back from whatever I've been in, I can say, 'OK then, finally I can go watch it.'"

Fraser-Pryce talks strategy, Asher-Smith elated

Silver medallist Fraser-Pryce spoke about her strategy for the race, after she started in the sixth lane with all of her main challengers on the inside.

"I got lane six, I was like, all right Shelly," she said. "All the girls were behind me. So I got to get off like nobody and I really tried my best to win it and I am so grateful for the gift that I got. Because I am telling you, it is not easy. It is hard work and dedication."

Britain's Asher-Smith spoke with pride about the bronze medal she won, particularly with the lightning-fast nature of the race she had just been in.

"I was so happy to get on that podium," she commented. "Obviously as reigning champion ideally I'd love to retain my title, but when somebody wants to go 21.4, you know what, congratulations."

And on the build-up to the World Championships that included losing her grandmother before the Diamond League in Doha, the Briton had this to say.

"Most of the season, I had to take myself psychologically from being so profoundly sad, frankly, to just okay to race. But when you're this calibre, being okay to race isn't good enough – you need to be excellent."

Home favourite Abby Steiner, who held the world lead this year until Jackson broke it at the Jamaican national championships, was left disappointed by her fifth-place finish.

"This was my first world championships so I just wanted to get out as fast as I could," she said. "Tried to hold on but unfortunately, I did not have my race today. This is my 55th race of the season so I am excited to see something else, you know, take some time off after this and then transition into pro next year."