This weekend marked the beginning of the track and field events at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.  And the first big final took place Saturday night in the Women’s 100m dash.  Among the notable finalists were Elaine Thompson and Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica, Tori Bowie and English Gardner of the United States, and Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands.

Fraser-Pryce was attempting to become the first woman in history to win gold in the 100m at three straight Olympic Games.  Her fellow country woman Elaine Thompson was peaking at the right time and posted some of the fastest 100m times of the season.  English Gardner and Tori Bowie of the U.S. were participating in their first Olympic Games, and hoping to bring gold back to the U.S. for the first time since Gail Devers took gold in Atlanta in 1996.

Going into the final the favorites were Thompson and Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica, as they ran identical 10.88 sec times in their semi final heats.  At the start, Fraser-Pryce got out to her typical fast start, but so did Thompson.  Thompson, as if being shot out of a cannon quickly took the lead.  Tori Bowie of the U.S. showed off her fabulous top end speed and narrowed the gap.  Fraser-Pryce was desperately trying to hold on to the silver medal spot, but was overtaken by Bowie at the tape.  English Gardner had a great start but began to tie up about 20 meters from the finish line taking her out of medal contention.

In the end it was Elaine Thompson taking gold for Jamaica, with Tori Bowie winning the silver for the U.S. and Fraser-Pryce getting the bronze.  Collectively, this was the fastest women’s 100m Olympic final in history with 7 of the 8 runners finishing in under 11 seconds.

Next up will be the men’s 100m final where Usain Bolt attempts to defend his title as “World’s Fastest Man”, and will also be going for the unprecedented triple in the 100m.