World’s fastest woman alive Shericka Jackson marked her 2025 season’s debut with a surprising loss in the 60m. Here’s why her shocking defeat should be a wake-up call for Sha’Carri Richardson, Julien Alfred, and the women’s sprint division.
In her first race of the 2025 season, reigning world 200m champion Shericka Jackson was handed a shocking loss to much unknown Jamaican sprinter.
Jackson marked her comeback from injury with a descent 7.18s (-0.4) to finish second behind Jodean Williams in 7.15s as Jonielle Smith placed a close third in 7.21s at the Grace Jackson Invitational meet in Kingston on Saturday, January 25th.
It was her first race since July 2024, the first time since 2023 that the 30-year-old competed in a 60m event and the earliest start to her season since 2019 when she ran the 200m at the same meet.
Following the unexpected upset, perhaps it’s a wake-up call signal for Sha’Carri Richardson, Julien Alfred, and the big guns in the women’s sprint division.
Shericka Jackson and Sha’Carri Richardson dominated the women’s sprint division in 2023
The Jamaican sprint queens’ absence since July 2024 witnessed her fierce American rival Richardson maintain her status as the world leader for the second consecutive year, as she ended last season with the world’s fastest 100m time of 10.71s and claimed an Olympic silver medal in Paris.
 "Why Shericka Jackson's loss is a wake-up call to Sha'Carri Richardson, Julien Alfred, and the women's sprint division 2")
Don’t come for a person’s intelligence with a degree from Harvard University. Gabby Thomas didn’t hold back on responding to a social media troll.
There was also the emergence of a new sprint queen to stardom in Saint Lucia’s Alfred, who stunned Richardson to the Olympic gold medal, blazed to 200m silver medal behind Gabby Thomas, and became the world indoor 60m and Diamond League 100m champion.
Julien Alfred stunned Sha’Carri Richardson to Olympic 100m gold in Paris || Imago
Richardson and Alfred stamped their names as the world’s best female 100m sprinters, superseding the Jamaican Big 3 of Jackson, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Elaine Thompson-Herah.
Following the Paris Olympic medallists’ domination, the track community anticipated that the 2025 season would finally be the year they get to experience intense competition and fierce clashes between the top 5 most rated world’s fastest women.
Jamaican Big 3 – Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson
Ironically, it becomes interesting that Jackson’s loss in her season opener is a testament that the women’s sprinting division gets more competitive each season, having new stars emerge into the scene as a wake-up call for the big guns.
For context, youngster Tia Clayton rose to the occasion in the absence of Jackson and the Big 3 last season, by being Jamaica’s only representative in the Paris Olympic final.
Tia Clayton is highly rated as Jamaica’s next big name in women’s sprint
The 20-year-old already began her 2025 indoor season brilliantly with a convincing 60m victory at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Astana, clocking a new meeting record of 7.18s. Her effortless win is a massive statement to the rest of the division that she has finally come of age and is ready to challenge the big guns as the season progresses.
 "Why Shericka Jackson's loss is a wake-up call to Sha'Carri Richardson, Julien Alfred, and the women's sprint division 6")
Olympic finalist Tia Clayton and Sada Williams dropped winning performances at the Astana Indoor Meet in Kazakh.
Even though Richardson and Alfred are yet to make their season debut, the results produced by other respectable female sprinters have proven the hunger, and only the fittest and fastest will eat and take their deserving position when it matters most.
With the summer World Championships in Tokyo the hallmark of this year’s athletics competitions, the women’s sprint division will surely give several thrilling storylines, and track enthusiasts should highly anticipate the possibility of a new queen rising on the throne as their next big star.
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