Melissa Jefferson-Wooden is one win away from becoming the first woman since Jamaican legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in 2013 to achieve the world sprint double after she eased into the final on Thursday.
The 24-year-old American timed 22 seconds dead in her semi-final and 2019 world champion Dina Asher-Smith was a well beaten second but the Briton goes into Friday’s showdown.
“Everything is lining up the way it was supposed to,” said Jefferson-Wooden.
“It’s really important for me to win the 200 metre title.
“This is what I have been working on the whole year, and for all the work to be coming together now means a lot.
“I believe I can win gold. It would be so easy to give up or not to step out of my comfort zone, but I want to do things no one thought I could do.”
Jefferson-Wooden may be the favourite but two-time defending champion Shericka Jackson’s season’s best of 21.99sec in the first of the three semi-finals sent a clear message to the American.
So fast was Jackson, who in the two past world championships has come agonisingly close to achieving the double, that four of her rivals also posted season’s bests and runner-up Amy Hunt ran a personal best of 22.08sec.
It was little surprise that the two fastest qualifiers emerged from her semi — 2019 silver medallist Brittany Brown of the United States and Bahamas Anthonique Strachan.
American Anavia Battle and Ivorian veteran Marie-Josee Ta Lou Smith fill out the eight-runner field after they finished first and second in the third semi.
For Ta Lou Smith, who turns 37 in November, it will be an astonishing 13th individual sprint final at a global outdoor championship. She won two silvers in the 2017 world championships.
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