Shericka Jackson (born 16 July 1994) is a Jamaican sprinter competing in the 60 m, 100 m, 200 m, and 400 metres. In the 100 m, she is the sixth fastest woman of all time (tied with Marion Jones and Sha'Carri Richardson), while in the 200 m, she is the second fastest woman in history.
Jackson started her career as a 400 m sprinter, winning individual bronze medals at the 2015 World Championships, 2016 Rio Olympics, and 2019 World Championships. At these competitions, she won silver in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 2016 Olympics, then gold and bronze respectively at the 2015 and 2019 World Championships. At the 2019 Championships, she also won gold in the 4 × 100 m relay.
After Jackson shifted to shorter sprints in 2021 she won bronze in the 100 m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, also adding a gold in the 4 × 100 m relay. At the 2022 World Championships, she won gold in the 200 m setting a new national record, whilst also winning silver in the 100 m and 4 × 100 m relay. She was the 2022 Diamond League 200 m champion. The following year, she retained her 200 m title at the 2023 World Championships, running in 21.41 s, the second-fastest time in history. She also won silver medals in the 100 m and 4 × 100 m relays.
Jackson is the first athlete in World Championship history to win medals in the 100, 200 and 400 metres, including the 4 × 100 and 4 × 400 metres relays. She is also the second athlete in history, behind Marita Koch to win medals in the 100, 200, 400, 4 × 100 and 4 × 400 metres at the World Championships and/or the Olympic Games. With her personal bests of 10.65 s in the 100 m, 21.41 s in the 200 m and 49.47 s in the 400 m, she is one of few women to reach high marks in all three events. Jackson has run five of the world's 10 fastest 200 m times – second, third, fourth, sixth and eighth.
Jackson was born in Saint Ann, Jamaica. She participated in track and field at Steer Town Academy and Vere Technical schools. At age 14, she represented Jamaica at the 2008 CARIFTA Games.
By 2009, Jackson had won age-group gold medals at the CARIFTA Games and the CACAC Junior Championships. She placed in the 200 m finals of the 2010 Youth Olympics, 2011 World Youth Championships (third), and the 2012 World Junior Championships.
In 2014, Jackson made her first professional appearance for Jamaica, competing in the 4 × 400 m relay at the inaugural World Relays in Nassau, winning a silver medal.
2015-2016: Breakthrough, World and Olympic medals
At the Jamaican Championships in June, Jackson improved her 400 m personal best to 50.31 s to finish second and secure her place at the World Championships in Beijing. She followed it up by winning over 200 m at the Spitzen Leichtathletik Luzern meet in Lucerne, with a time of 22.87 s.
At the World Championships, Jackson won a shock bronze medal in the 400 m, running 49.99 s, her first sub-50 clocking. In the 4 × 400 m relay, Jackson was part of the Jamaican quartet that won gold over the United States.
The following year, in June, Jackson ran her first sub-51 clocking of the season to win at the Racers Grand Prix in 50.72 s. At the Jamaican Championships, she finished third over 400 m to secure her place at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
At the Olympics, Jackson took the bronze medal over 400 m, finishing behind Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Allyson Felix in 49.85 s. She had previously run a new personal best of 49.83 s in the heats. She followed her strong performance up by winning a silver medal in the 4 × 400 m relay. On 9 September, at the Diamond League Final in Brussels, she finished fourth over 400 m in 50.73 s.
In April, Jackson ran a new 200 m personal best of 22.57 s at the UTech Classic in Kingston. Later that month, she won a gold medal in the 4 × 200 m relay at the World Relays in Yokohama.
Jackson continued her strong form by winning over 400 m at the Jamaican Championships in a season's best of 50.05 s. At the World Championships in London, she finished fifth in the 400 m final in 50.76 s. She once again improved her 200 m personal best to 22.46 s at the ISTAF Berlin meet on 27 August. At the Diamond League Final in Brussels, Jackson finished fifth over 400 m clocking a time of 51.16 s.
In 2018, she competed at the Commonwealth Games held on the Gold Coast in April, winning a silver medal over 200 m, running a personal best of 22.18 s. At the Jamaican Championships, Jackson dropped down in distance to finish third over 100 m in a personal best of 11.13 s, before winning the 200 m in a time of 22.28 s. She followed it up by recording her first ever Diamond League win in Paris, emerging victorious over 200 m in a personal best of 22.05 s.
At the inaugural Athletics World Cup held in London, Jackson won gold over 200 m in 22.35 s and silver in the 4 × 100 m relay. In August, she competed at the NACAC Championships, also winning gold over 200 m and silver in the 4 × 100 m relay. At the Diamond League Final, she finished fourth in the 200 m in 22.72 s. Jackson also finished fourth over the same distance at the Continental Cup in Prague, clocking 22.62 s.
In May 2019, Jackson competed at the World Relays in Yokohama, winning a bronze medal in the 4 × 200 m relay. Later that year in June, she finished second over her specialist 400 m distance at the Rome Diamond League, running a time of 51.05 s. She competed at the Jamaican Championships later that month, winning the 400 m in a new personal best of 49.78 s. She followed it up with a strong performance to win at the London Diamond League in 50.69 s.
At the Pan American Games in Lima, Jackson won the 400 m in 50,78 s, pulling away from Paola Moran and Courtney Okolo in the last 100 m to secure her victory. She followed her success up by competing at the World Championships in Doha, winning a bronze medal in the 400 m in a new personal best of 49.47 s. In the 4 × 100 m relay, Jackson anchored Jamaica to win her first World Championship gold medal, whilst also winning her second bronze medal of the Championships in the 4 × 400 m relay.