Fraser-Pryce bags fifth Diamond League 100m title
Shericka Jackson gets maiden title in 200m
Published:Friday | September 9, 2022 | 12:09 AMDaniel Wheeler/ Staff Reporter
Five has become the magic number for Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce in 2022.
In a year where she captured her fifth World 100 metres title, Fraser-Pryce closed the season with her fifth Diamond League title at the Diamond League Finals yesterday in Zurich, Switzerland, clocking 10.65 seconds to equal the meet record.
World 200m champion Shericka Jackson was second in 10.81 while Marie-Josee Ta Lou of Cote d’Ivoire was third in 10.91. After losing her first 100m race of the year last week in Brussels to Jackson, Fraser-Pryce responded, finishing her season how she started by running sub 10.7 for the seventh time in 2022.
After concerns brought about by hamstring discomfort which saw her pull out of the Lausanne Diamond League meet last month, Fraser-Pryce said that she is proud of the consistency she has shown this season.
“I am just excited to be here and to have won. I am feeling good to be able to come here and compete. This was remarkable, and I am very proud that I came away with a 10.65. I started with a 10.6, and I finished with a 10.6, so there is nothing more I could ask for,” Fraser-Pryce said.
Her Diamond League title brings to a close a season in which she has posted a sub-11 second time in every race she competed in this year, including the 10.67 championship record she posted two months ago at the World Championships. Fraser-Pryce said that the atmosphere in Zurich was a fitting setting for the 2022 season finale.
“When I came out here and saw the crowd, I said to myself ‘Oh my God, there’s a lot of people!’, But you know, that is what track and field is all about. We want to have full stadiums and sold-out crowds. We definitely want to feel that energy as it really helps us athletes,” Fraser-Pryce said.
Later in the evening, Jackson ensured that she would leave Zurich as a Diamond League winner, capturing her maiden title in the women’s 200m with a time of 21.81 seconds. Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Gabby Thomas of the United States finished second in 22.38 and her compatriot Tamara Clark was third in 22.42.
Jackson said it was a fitting end to a brilliant year for her, the highlight being winning her first major global individual title.
“I just wanted to come out here, take the win, and run as fast as possible. It is a wonderful year for me. I am just grateful for everything that happened,” Jackson said.
RASHEED BROADBELL
Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games champion Rasheed Broadbell and Tokyo Olympic Games champion Hansle Parchment guaranteed a podium finish in the men’s 110m hurdles. Broadbell clocked 13.06 for second while Parchment was third in 13.26. Reigning world champion Grant Holloway took the title in 13.02.
Former World 100m champion Yohan Blake finished second in the men’s 100m, clocking 10.05 seconds behind American Trayvon Bromell who won the title in 9.94.
World Championship silver medallist Shanieka Ricketts ended her Diamond League season, finishing third in the women’s triple jump with a jump of 14.85m on her fourth attempt. World and Olympic champion Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela took the Diamond League title in 15.28m while Maryna Bekh Romanchuk of Ukraine was second with 14.96m.
World Championship silver medallist and national record holder Britany Anderson finished third in the women’s 100m hurdles, clocking 12.42 seconds. The event was won in a meet record 12.29 by world record holder Tobi Amusan of Nigeria, with American Tia Jones second in 12.40.
Natoya Goule was second in the women’s 800m clocking 1:57.85 minutes behind Kenya’s Mary Moraa, 1:57.63.
Commonwealth Games champion Janieve Russell was third in the women’s 400m hurdles with a time of 53.77 while Rushell Clayton was fifth in 54.25. Femke Bol of the Netherlands won in 53.03 ahead of Panama’s Gianna Woodruff, 53.72.
World Championships 4x400m silver medallist Candice McLeod was fourth in the women’s 400m in 50.03 and Stephenie-Ann McPherson was eighth in 52.32. The event was won by Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino, won in a personal best 48.99, with her compatriot, Fiordaliza Cofil, second in 49.93 and Sada Williams of Barbados, third in 49.98.