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Shelly eyes fifth World 100m title

Published:Tuesday | April 26, 2022 | 12:11 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce speaks to reporters following her season opener in the women’s 200m at Velocity Fest 11 held at the National Stadium last Saturday.
Gladstone Taylor/Multimedia Photo Editor
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce speaks to reporters following her season opener in the women’s 200m at Velocity Fest 11 held at the National Stadium last Saturday.

Four-time World 100 metres champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, says she will be taking a much smarter approach to her season this year as she looks to defend her 100m title at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July.

Fraser-Pryce said she is very focused on winning her fifth 100m world title and therefore she plans to limit the number of races that she will compete in this year.

“As you know, I am looking forward to going to Paris (2024 Olympics) and so I want to make sure that I am very cautious in the amount of races that I run and, of course, the aim is to defend the title in Oregon,” she said.

Fraser-Pryce opened her season at the Velocity Fest on Saturday with a time of 22.79 seconds for second place. In fact, Fraser-Pryce got off to a fast start and led the race up to about 180 metres before slowing down and this allowed Anthonique Strachan from The Bahamas to take top spot in a season’s best 22.55 seconds.

The 35-year-old Fraser-Pryce, who has personal best times of 10.60 in the 100m and 21.79 in the 200m, stated that she plans to lower both times this season. Both of Fraser-Pryce’s personal best times were set last year. The 200m on June 27 at the National Stadium and the 100m in Lausanne, Switzerland, on August 26.

“After having that season last year, it has definitely opened a new door for me in terms of the dreams and the goals that I am chasing for this season,” she said.

“I am definitely looking forward to running 10.5 and possibly 10.4 so that is the aim,” Fraser-Pryce said. “I think I am on my way to doing that, I just have to continue to trust that God will give me the strength and trust in the coach and just continue to put in the work,” Fraser-Pryce noted.

“Once you are training and you are doing well, you set those kind of goals for yourself because it is something that I am attempting and last year, I opened (season) with 23 seconds and I went on to run 21.7 (9) so (with) a later start to the season, I run 22.79, so I am feeling good,” she reasoned.