At 30, Bahamian Anthonique Strachan ended the best season of her senior career on Sunday, finishing third in the women’s 200 meters (m) at the World Athletics Diamond League Final, the Prefontaine Classic, in Eugene, Oregon, USA.
Strachan clocked the second-fastest time of her career, 22.16 seconds, following just the 22.15 she ran at the Meeting International Mohammed VI d’Athletisme de Rabat in Rabat, Morocco, in May. At the 19th World Outdoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary, last month, she had a series of races in the 22.30 range, and following that, she ran 22.65 seconds at the Weltklasse Zürich Diamond League Meet in Zürich, Switzerland, and 22.31 seconds at the Allianz Memorial Van Damme Diamond League Meet in Brussels, Belgium.
Determined to end her season on a strong note, the Bahamian came through in 22.16 on Sunday.
Jamaican two-time World Champion Shericka Jackson, the second-fastest woman of all-time over that distance, came through in a meet record of 21.57 seconds for the gold medal on Sunday, taking the Diamond League title in that discipline for 2023. Marie-Josée Ta Lou, of the Ivory Coast, finished second in 22.10 seconds, and Strachan settled for third.
For Strachan, it is her highest ever finish in a Diamond League final. She qualified for the final in third and justified that qualification with a third-place run on Sunday. For her efforts, she will pocket $7,000.
Jackson is in a class by herself in the women’s 200m. She has three of the four fastest times in history, led by her stunning personal best national record setting run of 21.41 seconds for the gold medal at the Budapest World Championships. She has three of the four times under 21.50 seconds in that event, twice this year.
The late Florence Griffith-Joyner, known as ‘Flo Jo’, of the United States, is still listed as the world record holder with a time of 21.34 seconds – a time that has come under dispute many times as being illegitimate, with pundits citing the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
As for Strachan, she has clocked personal best times in both the 100 and 200m this year. She ran 10.92 seconds in the women’s 100m at the Bislett Games Diamond League Meet in Oslo, Norway, in June.
Strachan ran just the 200m at the world championships, and made her first global final on the senior side. She finished sixth in the final in a time of 22.29 seconds.
The only other Bahamian in action at the Diamond League Final over the weekend was LaQuan Nairn in the men’s long jump event.
Nairn finished seventh with a best leap of 7.27m (23’ 10-1/4”) on Sunday. Nairn got injured on his final attempt in the qualifying rounds of the men’s long jump at the Budapest World Championships, but was back in action this weekend.
Devynne Charlton qualified for the Diamond League Final in the women’s 100m hurdles, but did not compete, thereby ending her season.
