FloJo step asidethe Jones' express
is on its way
The acclaimed star of women's
sprinting last season, Marion Jones (USA), has her sights set on
Florence Griffith-Joyner's records in both 100m and 200m. The two
records were both set by Griffith-Joyner in 1988, the 100m in the
US Olympic trials in July (10.49) and the 200m in the Seoul
Olympic Games (21.34) and while Jones doesn't say that they are
both going to fall on their tenth anniversaries, she doesn't have
any doubts about being able to better them. "I think I can
break the world record. I am not saying next year, or in three
years, but I can do it," said Jones in a press conference in
the Finnish capital Helsinki on 20 January.
Marion's personal best of 10.76 in the 100m last year was the third fastest time ever in the event for a woman, bettered only by Flo-Jo's 1988 mark and the 1996 10.74 run by Merlene Ottey (JAM) during the 1996 IAAF Grand Prix Final in Milan. Merlene scored her personal best at the ripe old age of 36 and is still going strong, while Marion is just 22 and still feels that she has enormous room for improvement. "I definitely think I can run much faster than 10.76 and 21.76.." she said during the conference. 1997 was her first full season in track and field after interrupting a promising career in basketball, following two ankle fractures which excluded her from the US Olympic team in Atlanta, and was crowned by her winning the 100m title in the Athens '97 World Championships in Athletics and the International Athletic Foundation award for Woman Athlete of the Year, in the IAF annual Gala and awards ceremony in Monte Carlo in November 1997.
During the 1997 season, Marion Jones scored the top three 200m marks and the top 100m mark.