BRUSSELS — Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was in buoyant form despite finishing fourth in the 100m at the Brussels Diamond League, saying she was focused on ending her illustrious career in a “magnificent way” at the Tokyo World Athletics Championships.
The 38-year-old Jamaican sprint legend timed 11.17 seconds in Brussels on Friday, just edged off a podium featuring Americans Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Sha’Carri Richardson – the world champion, and Briton Daryll Neita.
While Fraser-Pryce – the third-fastest woman of all time in the 100m with 10.60 – has struggled this season to hit the speeds she once did, she was in bullish mood when looking ahead to the September 13-21 world champs in the Japanese capital.
She will hang up her spikes after Tokyo, having spent an incredible 17 years as a dominant force in women’s sprinting.
“I’ve made a world championships team, so I’m looking forward to the world championships, that’s the goal,” said the sprinter who has won three Olympic gold medals and 10 world titles, with a total of 25 Olympic and world medals to her name.
Her success, she added, was “just confidence in my ability, in working hard and just trusting that I know what is good for me and where I’m at and knowing when it’s time to walk away and it wasn’t time”.
“I’m looking forward to just finishing the chapter and ending this career in a magnificent way. And I’m sure it’ll work out in Tokyo,” Fraser-Pryce explained according to AFP.
Fraser-Pryce made her senior debut at the 2007 world champs in the Japanese city of Osaka, a life-changing experience which she recalls well.
“I was just really unsure of who I was. I didn’t want to run, I just wanted to enjoy the moment, and then I was placed on the 4x100m team through an anchor leg,” she said.
“It really transformed the way I think. I went back home and I worked really hard, and then that just changed the rest of history for me.”
The Tokyo worlds are only weeks away and Fraser-Pryce said there was not enough time for a major overhaul.
“There’s not much you can really do more than just fine tuning the things that you’ve been doing and continue to work on those things, and trust that everything will fall into place,” she said.
“I haven’t been racing a lot. The start is something that I’m working on. So hopefully I’ll be able to get it together.
“I’m experienced enough to know that I have to focus on my own lane with my own race.
“We all have different goals and different expectations when we go into a race and what we’re working on. So, I kind of just focus on what I have to do and then see if I do that, and then go back to the drawing board and work on it.”
Fraser-Pryce said that, on paper, Jefferson-Wooden “would definitely be the favourite to win” in Tokyo.
“But you have to run the race. That’s just how it is,” she added.
The American, however, was not the Jamaican’s main concern. “My focus is to run my race and to focus on what my goals are, and hopefully all these races that I’ve been able to do will help me to put the race together.
“I already know who I am. I know who I am, know what I’m about.
“I already have a championship mindset, so I’m looking at and working on those experiences to help me go through the championships.”
In-form US sprinter Melissa Jefferson-Wooden will return home to fine-tune final touches before heading to the World Championships.
“I feel great,” she said after her Brussels triumph, taking her to eight straight wins this season in the blue riband event.
“At this point, it’s just about consistency and practice making perfect,” she said.
