by The legend of the Jamaican sprint Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will be at the head of a 100m star female during the meeting of the Brussels Diamond League on Friday, looking for an improved form just three weeks from its last world championships in Tokyo.
Fraser-Pryce, at the age of 38, had trouble on the track this season to reach the summits that have seen it become a real pioneer of the female sprint in the past 17 years.
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Nevertheless, her third place in 10.91 seconds during the Jamaican trials saw her qualify for Tokyo where she will try to add to her astonishing transport of medals.
Fraser-Pryce, the third fastest woman of all time per 100m with a time of 10.60, won three Olympic gold medals and 10 world titles, with a total of 25 Olympic and global medals in her name.
Her fifth appearance in Brussels, where she set the 10.72-second competition record in 2013, will see her displayed against a strong American trio by Sha’Carri Richardson, the defending world champion and Olympic silver medal, in the shape of Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who is at the top of the world list of this season.
Fraser-Pryce plunged under this 11-second barrier a record of 88 times, although its most recent release, at the Hungarian Grand Prix last week in Budapest, saw it only fourth place in 11.10 seconds.
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“Our alignment is phenomenal, notably Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, respectively the sprint queen of the last 15 years and the feeling of sprint of the season,” said director Kim Gevaert, who won Olympic gold in 2008 as part of the Belgian female team 4x100m.
“They will be joined by the world champion reigning Sha’Carri Richardson and Daryll Neita, number four at the Paris Games.”
Rodney Green, a former Bahamas sprinter who went to a successful coach, said he was concerned about the recent form of Fraser-Pryce.
“Yes, she sands sandbags (flops) in the races, but I don’t think that late in the game, with her not being seen for a while, is a good sign,” said Green alongside the former Sprinter of the United States Justin Gatlin on their Podcast Readystgo.
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“With all the young girls who run as they are, 11.10 is certainly not enough. I would not have been worried if she had run 10.90, but 11.10? At this point, her body needs to feel these efforts of 10 seconds, to embark on this rhythm and to know that she is ready.”
– Thiam V Kjt –
The Brussels meeting, coming only two days after one in Lausanne, is the 14th meeting of the Diamond League of the season.
Only the finals of August 27/28 remain in Zurich left before the athletics elite head for the world championships, which take place from September 13 to 21 in Tokyo.
Eight reigning Olympic champions will be presented at the King Baudouin stadium in the Belgian capital, including local favorite Nafi Thiam.
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The triple Olympic Champion Heptathlon will compete in the long jump against the longtime rival Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the British who claimed the money in Paris.
Others include Winfred Yavi (3,000 m steeplechase), Thea Lafond (triple jump), Yemisi Ogunleye (weight throwing), Hamish Kerr (High jump) and Roje Stona (Discus Throw).
Yavi should go for the world record in the steeplechase of Mile rarely directed, while Angnes JEBET NGETICH will try to follow suit within 5,000 meters.
Us Pole Vaulter Sandi Morris, who set the 5m competition record in 2016, will be present again.
She will face her teammate Katie Moon, the Olympic gold medalist from Tokyo and double world champion, and current world champion in the Molly Caudery in Great Britain.
Caudery has already cleared 4.85 m twice this year, while the American star Amanda Moll made 4.91 m voted during the indoor season.
LP / PI
