Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metres

Early in May, two time Olympic Champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce made a categorical statement that her career is not over. Thirteen years after her first gold medal, she ran not only her personal best, but the number 2 mark of all time 10.63. She took the Jamaican Olympic Trials, while the defending Olympic Champion Elaine Thompson-Herah didn't show the same kind of form, finishing as the last qualifier in third place. At the U.S. Trials, Sha'Carri Richardson ran 10.86 potentially setting up a close race in Tokyo until Richardson was taken out of the competition after a drug test came up positive for cannabis.

The heats revealed Marie-Josée Ta Lou was ready to be in the mix, setting the African record at 10.78 to lead the round. Fraser-Pryce led the semi-final round at 10.73 over Thompson-Herah. Ta-Lou and Jamaican Trials runner-up Shericka Jackson were all under 10.80. Daryll Neita was the final qualifier at 10.992, while Michelle-Lee Ahye missed the final with 10.993.^[3]

Fraser-Pryce is known for her fast starts. In the final she was out well, but Thompson-Herah was out quickly with her. By 30 metres, Thompson-Herah took the lead, with Jackson and Ta Lou battling for bronze. From there Thompson-Herah separated from Fraser-Pryce. Jackson separated from Ta Lou and gained on Fraser-Pryce. Three metres out from the finish, Thompson-Herah held up her left arm celebrating a clear victory. Fraser-Pryce had too much of a lead for Jackson to reach her but she completed the sweep for Jamaica, the trio .15 ahead of the next competitor Ta Lou. Thompson-Herah's 10.61 was not just a clear victory, it was a .09 improvement on her personal best. It beat Florence Griffith Joyner's 1988 Olympic Record and tied Griffith Joyner's second fastest race ever while displacing Fraser-Pryce from the number 2 position on the all-time list.^[4]

Thompson-Herah joined Wyomia Tyus, Gail Devers and Fraser-Pryce as the only women to defend their 100 metres title. By winning the silver medal, Fraser-Pryce became the first person, man or woman, to win 4 Olympic medals in the blue-ribbon event of the 100m.

This was the 22nd time the event was held, since the event started in 1928.

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the women's 100 metres event if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 11.15 seconds. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 56 is reached.^[2][5]

The qualifying period was originally from 1 May 2019 to 29 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 May 2019 to 30 June 2020; athletes who had met the qualifying standard during that time were still qualified, but those using world rankings would not be able to count performances during that time. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Only outdoor meets were eligible for the sprints and short hurdles, including the 100 metres. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.^[2][6]

NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one female athlete regardless of time if they had no female athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the 100 metres.^[2]

The event continued to use the preliminaries plus three main rounds format introduced in 2012. Athletes not meeting the qualification standard (that is, were entered through universality places) will compete in the preliminaries; those who met the standard started in the first round.^[7]

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Florence Griffith Joyner (USA)	10.49	Indianapolis, United States	16 July 1988
Olympic record	Florence Griffith Joyner (USA)	10.62	Seoul, South Korea	24 September 1988

Area	Time (s)	Wind	Athlete	Nation
Africa (records)	10.78	+1.6	Murielle Ahouré	Ivory Coast
Asia (records)	10.79	+0.0	Li Xuemei	China
Europe (records)	10.73	+2.0	Christine Arron	France
North, Central America and Caribbean (records)	10.49 WR	+0.0	Florence Griffith Joyner	United States
Oceania (records)	11.11	+1.9	Melissa Breen	Australia
	11.11	+0.0	Denise Robertson	Australia
South America (records)	10.91	-0.2	Rosângela Santos	Brazil

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Event	Athlete	Nation	Time	Record
31 July	Final	Elaine Thompson-Herah	Jamaica	10.61	OR

In the final, Elaine Thompson-Herah set the new Olympic record, improving Griffith Joyner's 1988 time by 0.01 seconds. This was the fourth oldest Olympic record in athletics.

The following national records were established during the competition:

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

The women's 100 metres took place over two consecutive days.^[1]

Preliminaries

The preliminary round of the competition featured athletes who had not achieved the required qualifying time for the event. Athletes who had achieved that time received a bye into the first round proper.

Qualification rule: first 3 of each heat (Q) plus the fastest time (q) qualified.

Preliminary Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6	Natacha Ngoye Akamabi	Republic of the Congo	0.124	11.47	Q, SB
2	8	Margaret Vanessa Barrie	Sierra Leone	0.142	11.53	Q, SB
3	5	Amya Clarke	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0.155	11.67	Q
4	9	Djénébou Danté	Mali	0.169	12.12	SB
5	1	Hadel Aboud	Libya	0.126	12.70	PB
6	2	Bashair Obaid Al-Manwari	Qatar	0.142	13.12	PB
7	7	Kamia Yousufi	Afghanistan	0.157	13.29	NR
8	3	Alba Mbo Nchama	Equatorial Guinea	0.148	13.36	PB
9	4	Amed Elna	Comoros	0.161	14.30	PB
				Wind: +0.3 m/s

Preliminary Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	3	Farzaneh Fasihi	Iran	0.142	11.76	Q
2	8	Azreen Nabila Alias	Malaysia	0.168	11.77	Q, PB
3	4	Mudhawi Al-Shammari	Kuwait	0.167	11.82	Q
4	5	Regine Tugade-Watson	Guam	0.135	12.17	SB
5	7	Charlotte Afriat	Monaco	0.131	12.35
6	9	Silina Pha Aphay	Laos	0.170	12.41	SB
7	6	Hsieh Hsi-en	Chinese Taipei	0.171	12.49	PB
8	2	Sarswati Chaudhary	Nepal	0.158	12.91	SB
9	1	Yasmeen Al-Dabbagh	Saudi Arabia	0.153	13.34
				Wind: +0.5 m/s

Preliminary Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	9	Joella Lloyd	Antigua and Barbuda	0.179	11.55	Q
2	5	Asimenye Simwaka	Malawi	0.164	11.76	Q, NR
3	7	Alvin Tehupeiory	Indonesia	0.194	11.89	Q, SB
4	1	Carla Scicluna	Malta	0.152	12.11	q
5	4	Hanna Barakat	Palestine	0.164	12.16	NR
6	8	Mazoon Al-Alawi	Oman	0.191	12.35
7	3	Aissata Deen Conte	Guinea	0.157	12.43	PB
8	6	Matie Stanley	Tuvalu	0.159	14.52	PB
9	2	Houlèye Ba	Mauritania	0.147	15.26	PB
				Wind: +0.8 m/s

Heats

Qualification Rules: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 3 fastest (q) advance to the Semifinals.

Wind readings- Heat 1: -0.1 m/s; Heat 2: +0.1 m/s; Heat 3: -0.4 m/s; Heat 4: -0.3 m/s; Heat 5: +1.3 m/s; Heat 6: -0.1 m/s; Heat 7: -0.2 m/s

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	5	Teahna Daniels	United States	0.136	11.04	Q
2	4	Dina Asher-Smith	Great Britain	0.103	11.07	Q
3	8	Murielle Ahouré	Ivory Coast	0.132	11.16	Q, SB
4	7	Ge Manqi	China	0.149	11.20	q
5	6	Salomé Kora	Switzerland	0.146	11.25
6	9	Marije van Hunenstijn	Netherlands	0.158	11.27	SB
7	2	Joella Lloyd	Antigua and Barbuda	0.173	11.54
8	3	Asimenye Simwaka	Malawi	0.161	11.68	NR

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	7	Elaine Thompson-Herah	Jamaica	0.158	10.82	Q
2	5	Mujinga Kambundji	Switzerland	0.111	10.95	Q, =NR
3	6	Tatjana Pinto	Germany	0.164	11.16	Q
4	4	Khamica Bingham	Canada	0.156	11.21	q
5	3	Rosângela Santos	Brazil	0.180	11.33	SB
6	9	Kelly-Ann Baptiste	Trinidad and Tobago	0.150	11.48
7	8	Vittoria Fontana	Italy	0.149	11.53
8	2	Alvin Tehupeiory	Indonesia	0.189	11.92

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	Alexandra Burghardt	Germany	0.133	11.08	Q
2	6	Javianne Oliver	United States	0.150	11.15	Q
3	9	Anna Bongiorni	Italy	0.147	11.35	Q
4	7	Rhoda Njobvu	Zambia	0.130	11.40	(.394)
5	8	Liang Xiaojing	China	0.159	11.40	(.396)
6	5	Tristan Evelyn	Barbados	0.125	11.42
7	3	Margaret Barrie	Sierra Leone	0.148	11.45	SB
8	2	Farzaneh Fasihi	Iran	0.143	11.79

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	Marie-Josée Ta Lou	Ivory Coast	0.161	10.78	Q, =AR
2	7	Daryll Neita	Great Britain	0.107	10.96	Q, PB
3	5	Crystal Emmanuel	Canada	0.148	11.18	Q
4	6	Lorène Bazolo	Portugal	0.134	11.31
5	3	Maja Mihalinec Zidar	Slovenia	0.130	11.54	SB
6	9	Ángela Tenorio	Ecuador	0.137	11.59
7	2	Amya Clarke	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0.153	11.71
-	8	Vitória Cristina Rosa	Brazil	-	DNS	-

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	Jamaica	0.128	10.84	Q
2	5	Ajla Del Ponte	Switzerland	0.131	10.91	Q, NR
3	6	Nzubechi Grace Nwokocha	Nigeria	0.161	11.00	Q, PB
4	7	Gina Bass	The Gambia	0.134	11.12	q, NR
5	2	Rafaéla Spanoudaki-Hatziriga	Greece	0.133	11.45
6	8	Inna Eftimova	Bulgaria	0.145	11.46
7	9	Dutee Chand	India	0.148	11.54
8	3	Carla Scicluna	Malta	0.178	12.16

Heat 6

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	7	Blessing Okagbare	Nigeria	0.147	11.05	Q
2	5	Asha Philip	Great Britain	0.110	11.31	Q
3	6	Tynia Gaither	Bahamas	0.141	11.34	Q
4	9	Krystsina Tsimanouskaya	Belarus	0.149	11.47
5	8	María Isabel Pérez	Spain	0.151	11.51
6	3	Natacha Ngoye Akamabi	Republic of the Congo	0.137	11.52
7	2	Azreen Nabila Alias	Malaysia	0.173	11.91

Heat 7

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6	Michelle-Lee Ahye	Trinidad and Tobago	0.123	11.06	Q
2	5	Shericka Jackson	Jamaica	0.170	11.07	Q
3	7	Jenna Prandini	United States	0.148	11.11	=SB, Q
4	8	Diana Vaisman	Israel	0.132	11.27	SB
5	4	Hana Basic	Australia	0.147	11.32
6	2	Wei Yongli	China	0.174	11.48	SB
7	9	Jasmine Abrams	Guyana	0.148	11.49
8	3	Mudhawi Al-Shammari	Kuwait	0.167	11.81

Semi-finals

Qualification Rules: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advance to the final.

Wind readings- Heat 1: +0.0 m/s; Heat 2: -0.2 m/s; Heat 3: +0.3 m/s

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	Elaine Thompson-Herah	Jamaica	0.157	10.76	Q
2	6	Ajla Del Ponte	Switzerland	0.109	11.01	Q
3	7	Dina Asher-Smith	Great Britain	0.148	11.05
4	8	Jenna Prandini	United States	0.149	11.11	=SB
5	2	Khamica Bingham	Canada	0.150	11.22
6	3	Tynia Gaither	Bahamas	0.130	11.31
7	9	Tatjana Pinto	Germany	0.163	11.35
—	5	Blessing Okagbare	Nigeria	—	—	DNS[8]

Notes: Blessing Okagbare was prevented from competing due to an out of competition doping violation.^[8]

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	5	Marie-Josée Ta Lou	Ivory Coast	0.147	10.79	(.784), Q
2	6	Shericka Jackson	Jamaica	0.147	10.79	(.787), Q
3	4	Michelle-Lee Ahye	Trinidad and Tobago	0.132	11.00	SB
4	7	Alexandra Burghardt	Germany	0.151	11.07
5	9	Javianne Oliver	United States	0.166	11.08
6	2	Crystal Emmanuel	Canada	0.149	11.21
7	3	Ge Manqi	China	0.145	11.22
8	8	Asha Philip	Great Britain	0.134	11.30

Semifinal 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	5	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	Jamaica	0.136	10.73	Q
2	7	Mujinga Kambundji	Switzerland	0.128	10.96	Q
3	6	Teahna Daniels	United States	0.144	10.98	q, PB
4	4	Daryll Neita	Great Britain	0.135	11.00	q
5	9	Nzubechi Grace Nwokocha	Nigeria	0.142	11.07
6	2	Gina Bass	The Gambia	0.140	11.16
7	8	Murielle Ahouré	Ivory Coast	0.124	11.28
8	3	Anna Bongiorni	Italy	0.159	11.38

Final

Wind reading: -0.6 m/s

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
	4	Elaine Thompson-Herah	Jamaica	0.150	10.61	OR, NR
	5	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	Jamaica	0.139	10.74
	7	Shericka Jackson	Jamaica	0.152	10.76	PB
4	6	Marie-Josée Ta Lou	Ivory Coast	0.158	10.91
5	8	Ajla Del Ponte	Switzerland	0.129	10.97
6	9	Mujinga Kambundji	Switzerland	0.138	10.99
7	3	Teahna Daniels	United States	0.144	11.02
8	2	Daryll Neita	Great Britain	0.108	11.12