World's Fastest Women: A look at 100m World Champions

Gail Devers

Without a question, today's female sprint events are dominated by US and Jamaican athletes, however this wasn't always the case. A look at the first three stagings of the IAAF World Championships tells an entirely different story. Believe it or not, those early years saw East German athletes taking complete control of the event as they collected victory after victory starting with Marlies Oelsner-Gohr in 1983, Silke Gladisch in 1987 and Katrin Krabbe in 1991. It wasn't until, 1993 before the U.S finally had a breakthrough in Stuttgart. Talented sprinter and hurdler Gail Devers overcame graves disease to become America's first female 100m world champion. In one of the most talked about women's final in history, Devers powered through the last 50 metres but was surprisingly caught on the line by Jamaican Merlene Ottey, who suffered a devastating start. Following a photo finish Devers was declared the winner in a controversial decision which sparked protest from Jamaican officials.

This was the beginning of a string of wins by the US, whose athletes went on to win the event at the following three championships. Of note during this period is the now disgraced sprinter Marion Jones. She remains the only female with back-to-back 100m wins at the 1997 and 1999 championships. Her 10.70 clocking at the latter, still stands as the fastest female 100m in a world championship final. By 2003 Torri Edwards brought the title firmly back in USA's hands with a convincing win over Pintusevich who held on for second.


Marion Jones



In the summer of 2001 Ukranian Zhanna Pintusevich put an end to the US winning streak. In a huge upset she rocketed to the line just ahead of Marion Jones. Jones was eventually stripped of her silver medal and second place awarded to Greece's Ekaterina Thanou.

The 2005 Helsinki Championships saw the renewal of the Jamaica -USA rivalry. Athens Olympic silver medalist Lauryn Williams rocketed out of the blocks leaving the field to play catch up. Williams, however, could not be caught by the fast finishing Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown. But by 2007 the roles were reversed.

In an epic final Campbell-Brown who was again left in the blocks, exercised brilliant top-end speed, catching Williams just on the line. The race was so close, a photo finish was needed to separate the top 5 athletes . After a nerve racking 10 minute wait, Campbell-Brown was eventually declared the winner and Williams second, both timed at 11.01sec. Carmelita Jeter squeezed in for third with 11.02. This marked the first championship victory for Jamaica in this event.

2009 brought a second win for Jamaica, this time from Olympic champion Shelly Ann Fraser, who beat her teammate Kerron Stewart in the second fastest IAAF 100m final of all time. Fraser won in 10. 74sec while Stewart clocked a personal best of 10.75. Jeter again claimed the bronze.

Merlene Ottey

Unlike the men's equivalent, no single female athlete dominated the event for years on end, which has served to make the short sprint even more exciting exciting. Going over the records I couldn't help but notice that although sprint legend Merlene Ottey never truly held the title of "world's fastest woman", she made it to an astonishing four consecutive world championship finals from 1987 to 1995. Ottey finished in the top 3 in each final, which is in itself a record.

The USA has won this event a total of 6 times while Jamaica has done so only twice. Another epic battle looms in Daegu and your guess for the win is as good as mine, either way track fans are in for a treat.

IAAF Women's 100m Medalists

1983

1. Marlies Oelsner-Gohr (GDR)10.97

2. Marita Koch (GDR) 11.02
3. Diana Williams (USA) 11.06

1987

1. Silke Gladisch (GDR)10.90
2. Heike Drechsler (GDR) 11.00
3. Merlene Ottey (JAM) 11.04
1991
1.Katrin Krabbe (GER) 10.99

2. Gwen Torrence (USA) 11.03

3. Merlene Ottey (JAM) 11.06

1993

1. Gail Devers (USA) 10.82

2. Merlene Ottey (JAM) 10.82

3. Gwen Torrence (USA)10.89

1995

1. Gwen Torrence (USA)10.85

2. Merlene Ottey (JAM)10.94

3. Irina Privalova RUSS 10.96

1997

1. Marion Jones (USA)10.83

2. Zhanna Pintusevich (UKR) 10.85

3. Savatheda Fynes (BAH) 11.03

1999

1. Marion Jones (USA) 10.70

2. Inger Miller (USA) 10.79

3. Ekaterini Thanou (GRE) 10.84

2001

1. Zhanna Pintusevich (UKR) 10.82

2. Ekaterini Thanou (GRE) 10.91

3. Chandra Sturrup (BAH) 11.02
(Marion Jones DQ)

2003

1. Torri Edwards (USA) 10.93

2. Zhanna Pintusevich (UKR) 10.99

3. Chandra Sturrup (BAH) 11.02

2005
1. Lauryn Williams (USA)10.93
2. Veronica Campbell Brown (JAM) 10.95

3. Christine Arron (FRA) 10.98

2007

1. Veronica Campbell Brown JAM 11.01

2. Lauryn Williams (USA) 11.01

3. Carmelita Jeter (USA) 11.02

2009
1. Shelly-Ann Fraser (JAM) 10.73

2. Kerron Stewart (JAM)10.75

3. Carmelita Jeter (USA) 10.90