(JAMAICA GLEANER) – Double double Olympic champion, Elaine Thompson Herah, has rebounded quickly from a controversy with former MVP coach Shanikie Osbourne with the announcement that she will be under the guidance of Reynaldo Walcott of Elite Performance Track Club.
According to a release from Thompson Herah’s ANDI Sports Management, run by former 400-metre athlete, Marvin Anderson, Thompson Herah is heartened by the outpouring of love from her fans during what the organisation deems a ‘transitional period’.
That transitional period included a very public spat with Osbourne over wage disagreements.
Both sides have exclaimed differing views on the reason, the coach, who helped Thompson Herah recover from a fifth-place finish at the National Championships where she clocked 11.01 seconds to clocking a nippy 10.79 to finish third in the women’s 100 metres at the Diamond League finals in Eugene, Oregon.
Thompson Herah, who was guided by coach Stephen Francis for some nine years, split with Francis in the same year she ran a career-best 10.54 seconds in Eugene, Oregon with Deron Herah taking over coaching duties for the start of the new season.
In two years of competition since, Thompson Herah, who has been plagued with injuries throughout her career, has failed to come close to her best.
Her best time since that 10.54 came in 2022 in Eugene, Oregon, and that time was matched in 2023.
Walcott is the coach behind the revival of another legendary Jamaican sprinter in Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who had also not long completed a famous split from Francis.
