After a crushing blow, came some dazzle, as double Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Shericka Jackson got off to smooth starts in Thursday's 100m heats at the Jamaican Olympic athletics trials.

Fraser-Pryce, crowned in Beijing in 2008 and in London in 2012, won her race in Kingston in 10.98sec (0.7 m/s). At 37, the eight-time Olympic medallist is aiming for a new title at the Paris Olympics, which begin on July 26, and is gaining momentum after only resuming competition in mid-June.

Jackson, 29, a double world runner-up in the distance, was similarly comfortable in her her heat, winning in 10.99 (0.9 m/s).

The two sprinters were part of a resounding Jamaican hat-trick in Tokyo in 2021 behind Thompson-Herah, also crowned in Rio in 2016but absent in the upcoming Paris Olympics after withdrawing from the trials on Wednesday due to injury.

"I am hurt and devastated to be missing the Olympics this year but at the end of the day it's sports and my health comes first," Thompson-Herah, 31, wrote in a statement shared on social media. The sprinter had already abandoned her bid to defend her 200m crown in Paris after opting not to take part in the 200m at this week's Kingston ramp-up. However, she had entered the 100m at the trials and retained hope of being able to compete in Paris over the shorter distance.

Thompson-Herah's fitness had been in doubt ever since she competed at a race in New York earlier this month, where she needed to be carried from the track after suffering a torn Achilles.

Fraser-Pryce and Jackson meet on Friday for the semi-finals and the final, where they must take one of the first three places in order to qualify.

Over 400m, the surprise world champion from Budapest, 22-year-old Antonio Watson, pulled up after about 120m and will not compete in the Olympics either. In the men's 100m, Kishane Thompson scorched to a personal best of 9.82sec.

A year ago, Thompson ran 9.91 seconds in the first round but did not show up for the semi-finals. He tied Oblique Seville's personal best set earlier this month and the Jamaicans are joint second in the world behind Ferdinand Omanyala's world lead 9.79 seconds.

Defending champion Seville was his usual smooth self as he clocked 9.98 seconds while World Indoor 60m bronze medallist Ackeem Blake was the other runner under 10 seconds with 9.95 seconds (1.0m/s).