Jackson was coached from age ten by her father, Olympic 400m hurdles medalist, Bershawn Jackson. Her mother, Shannon, competed collegiately in track and field and earned All-American relay honors. She has a younger sister called Shari and a younger brother called Bershawn Jnr.[2][3][4]
Jackson won her first national youth sprinting title at seven years old. She ran in the Junior Olympics in the 4x100m in 2012.[5]
Jackson attended Wakefield High School in Raleigh, North Carolina. As a teenager, Jackson set new high school national records for the 50m, 55m, and 60m distances. She achieved the qualifying time for the trials for the delayed 2020 Olympic Games as a 15-year-old but opted against competing. She spent a year at the Cardinal Gibbons Catholic School before switching back to Raleigh’s Wakefield High.[6]
Career
In January 2022, Jackson ran 7.18 for the 60m to earn third place at the Millrose Games, breaking the girl’s indoor high school national record.[7]
She competed as a 17-year-old at the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, and won a complete set of medals. She won a bronze medal in the 100m, running a time of 11.15s, then added a silver in the 4x100m and a gold in the 4x400m.[8]
In January 2023, Jackson signed a letter of intent to compete for the Arkansas Razorbacks, having been ranked first in the 100m and second in the 400m, and fifth in the 200m in the high school rankings.[9][10]
In June 2023, she became the third girl in American high school history to dip under 11 seconds for the 100m, after Briana Williams and Candace Hill. Running at the Music City Track Carnival in Nashville, Tennessee, she beat the previous high school national record by five-hundredths of a second, finishing in a new personal best time of 10.89.[11]
In August 2023, she competed at the 2023 Pan American U20 Athletics Championships and was part of the American 4x100m relay team that won gold in a new American U20 national record time. She also won gold in the individual 200 metres race in a competition record time of 22.38 seconds.[13][14]
In September 2023, Jackson signed a one year NIL deal with Brooks, becoming the companies first track and field NIL athlete.[15]
References
^"S.Jackson". World Athletics. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
