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Eight-time Olympic and 14-time World Championships medallist Shelly-Anne Fraser-Pryce from Jamaica will be competing in the World Athletics Continental Tour in Madrid on Saturday, July 22.
Fraser-Pryce has been rehabbing a knee injury which has prevented her from competing for most of this season. The only race she has run in 2023 is a 200m event on July 9, run in the time of 22.26 to finish in second place. The 36-year-old has yet to compete in the 100m distance this season. Her first 100m race will be in Vallehermoso, Spain.
Mommy Rocket finally opens her season in the Women’s 200m heats at the national trials 👏🏽
— Stream (@Stream876) July 9, 2023
Sound on to hear sprint legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce speak about her first race of the season, injury setbacks and what’s to come!#JATrials pic.twitter.com/XXNspii5wd
Currently, Fraser-Pryce is ranked as the World’s number one 100m sprinter based on her 2022 performances. She won gold at the 2022 Eugene World Athletics Championships. Meanwhile, in 2023, 23-year-old American Sha’Carri Richardson has thrown down a challenge in the event clocking a 10.71 personal best and 10.57 wind-aided performance. She has recorded five new personal bests over the 100m, 200m and 4 x 100m relay so far in 2023. She is now ranked seventh in the world.
Fellow Jamaican Shericka Jackson is ranked number two, Marie-Josée Ta Lou is third from the Ivory Coast and American Aleia Hobbs from the US is fourth. Dina Asher-Smith from Great Britain is fifth, while Swiss Mujinga Kambundji is sixth.
So far this season only Ta Lou, Richarson and Kambundji have earned their global ranking in the 100m event during the 2023 season. The others are from performances that took place during the 2022 season.
Perhaps the athletes who have yet to race this season will argue that winning sprints in June and early July may cause an early peak. We will soon find out as the 2023 World Athletics Championships are scheduled to take place in Aug. in Budapest, Hungary.
Jackson was to race her first 100m at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix but apparently pulled out last minute due to personal reasons. She went to the Kip Keino Classic in Kenya but pulled the chute apparently due to an injury.