by Stuart Weir
One of Stuart Weir’s favorite athletes is Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. This is his column on the five-time women’s 100-meter champion.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is World 100 Champion again – 2009, 2013, 2015, 2019, and 2022. We knew that the event was going to be a cracker already from the prelims when Dina Asher-Smith was fastest in 10.84, one of 4 sub 11 runs – and this was just the prelims!
The semi-finals were full of high drama, with Julian Alfred DQed in the first semi and TyNia Gaither in the third. The incredulous athlete went to look for herself, and then there was an announcement that sounded like a statement that no breach of the rules had been made, but Gaither was still excluded. The three races were won by Jamaicans, Jackson, Thompson-Herah, and Fraser-Pryce.
The two places in the final for “fastest losers” went to Melissa Jefferson (10.92) and Mujinga Kambundji (10.96), leaving Darryl Neita (10.97) missing out on the final by 0.01 of a second.
The final ended:
1 Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce 10.67
2 Shericka Jackson 10.73
3 Elaine Thompson-Herah 10.81
4 Dina Asher-Smith 10.84
5 Aleia Hobbs 10.91
6 Mujinga Kambundji 10.92
7 Majo Ta Lou 10.93
8 Melissa Jefferson 11.03
Fraser-Pryce said: “It is definitely special. It is my fifth World Championship 100m title, and I am doing it at 35. So many persons think that when women reach 35 that somehow it diminishes our gifts and talents. But I am able to line up and compete, and that is very special. So many of the women I have been competing with are not competing anymore. So it is important for me to be here showing other women that you can start from anywhere and be competing not just in your 20s but also in your 30s, and it can still be meaningful. I knew I was in good shape, but there are so many things that can happen in a final as an athlete, but I just needed to execute. To come away with a win is good”.
35, and a mother, but Shelly controlled the race and left everyone else in her wake.
Statistical Summary
- This is the 1st ever sweep in the women’s 100 at the World Championships, and it is also the 1st sweep for Jamaica at the Worlds.
- Fraser-Pryce’s time of 10.67 is a championship record, bettering the mark of 10.70 set by Marion Jones (USA) in 1999.
- Fraser-Pryce became the first person to win five world titles in an individual running event and, at 35-201, breaks Justin Gatlin’s record as the oldest world champion in an individual event on the track.
- Fraser-Pryce was the previous oldest gold medalist in this event, in 2019, at 32-201.
- Fraser-Pryce also breaks a tie for most medals in the event with Carmelita Jeter (USA) and Merlene Ottey (JAM), who both won 4 medals.
- With the women’s 100 meters, the men’s 100 meters, and the men’s shot put, there have now been 3 medal sweeps at Oregon22, which equals the most at a single edition of the World Championships, also set in 1983, 2005, and 2007.
