Elaine Thompson-Herah: Double Olympic champion reportedly fires coach Shanikie Osbourne despite brilliant end to 2023 season

Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shanikie Osbourne

Elaine Thompson-Herah: Double Olympic champion reportedly fires coach Shanikie Osbourne despite brilliant end to 2023 season

Funmilayo Fameso 14:42 - 14.11.2023

Reports from Jamaica says that Elaine Thompson-Herah has parted ways with her new coach Shanikie Osbourne, nine months before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah is rumoured to have fired her new coach Shanikie Osbourne, just four months after they started working together.

According to Radio Jamaica Sports, their sources indicate that coach Osbourne has not been present at Thompson-Herah's training sessions for approximately a week. The specific reason for the split has not been disclosed, but speculation is that both parties could not agree on remuneration. 

Elaine Thompson-Herah parts ways with new coach Shanikie Osbourne
Coach Shanikie Osbourne

The fastest woman alive started training with coach Osbourne after her battles with Achilles tendon injury and failure to make the Jamaican individual team to the World Championships in Budapest.

Subsequently, their relationship started blossoming as Thompson-Herah made a late-season comeback, blazing to new Season's Best's (SB) of 10.92s and 10.84s in each of her races after Budapest, and eventually ended the season with a blistering 10.79s to place third at the Prefontaine Classic Eugene Diamond League.

Elaine Thompson-Herah changes coach for the second time in a year
Double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah

Thompson-Herah's fantastic end to the season made many believe that she was finally in the right coaching space since 2021, when she started training under the guidance of her husband Derron Herah, but they mutually ended their coach-athlete relationship during the 2023 World Championships.

However, if the reports are true regarding coach Osbourne, the talented speedster will hope to work things out before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where she'll be gunning to make history by becoming the female sprinter in history to win three consecutive sprints Olympic titles.

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