Rest is best for Fraser-Pryce – Wright
Published:Wednesday | September 8, 2021 | 12:08 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
Sports medicine specialist Dr Paul Wright says that world and Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s absence from the Diamond League final will help to maintain her high standards at this stage of her career.
The four-time world 100m champion will not compete at the two-day final which begins today in Zurich, Switzerland. Fraser-Pryce, who won silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, joins bronze medallist Shericka Jackson who will also skip the 100m final, which takes place tomorrow.
Back-to-back Olympic double sprint champion Elaine Thompson Herah is scheduled to compete in the 100m, while Jackson will feature in the 200m. Natasha Morrison has been added to the women’s 100m final.
Fraser-Pryce had qualifed for the final based on her previous performances on the circuit but her agent Paul Doyle said she would not feature in Zurich.
Wright says that given the desire to compete at next year’s World Championships and potentially beyond, it is vital that Fraser-Pryce manages her workload to continue competing at a high level.
PRESERVE YOUR STRENGTH
“At 34 (years old) you want to preserve your strength. She has already stated that she’s looking forward to compete in 2022 at the World Championships and even possibly the next Olympics. She believes that the best is yet to come and the only way the best is yet to come for a 34-year-old is to rest,” Wright told The Gleaner.
While she is contemplating ending her season, Doyle says that the door is not closed on her competing in another meet.
“She is not competing in Zurich. She has not withdrawn so to speak, she was never confirmed,” Doyle said. “(We) are considering one more (meet), but (that has) not (been) confirmed yet.”
Fraser-Pryce has run three races since the Tokyo Olympics, competing in Oregon (August 21), Lausanne (Aug 26) and most recently on Sunday in Poland where she won in a time of 10.81 seconds.
She pulled out of the Paris Diamond League meet on August 28 citing fatigue, with only a turnaround time of 48 hours between Lausanne and Poland.
In all, Fraser-Pryce has raced a total of 23 times this year in both the 100m and 200m as well as the 4x100m relay final at the Tokyo Olympics.
“I think that she has done enough. She doesn’t have to prove anything else to anybody. I think from a medical point of view, we must all say thanks for what she has done this season,” Wright said.
Meanwhile, World Championship shot put silver medallist Danniel Thomas-Dodd will be the only Jamaican in action on today’s opening day of the Diamond League finale.
Thomas-Dodd, who failed to qualify for the Olympics final in Tokyo, has competed in three meets since the Games, placing fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively. She managed a season’s best of 19.26 metres to register a win at the Music City Track Carnival in June in Nashville, Tennessee.
Among the six-woman field, Portugal’s Auriol Dongmo enters the competition with the longest distance this year with a season’s best of 19.75 metres.