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Shelly-Ann still competing at 38
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is 38 and she is still running fast. Fourth in the Diamond League 100m in Doha last week. Can it really be 17 years since I watched her win the Olympics in Beijing in 2008 – I didn’t really know who she was and she did not know how good she was! I saw her in all five Olympics. I remember Moscow World Champs in 2013 when she won 100, 200 and the relay.
I was in Lausanne in 2021 when she ran 10.60. I saw her first ever indoor race “I’m from Jamaica, why should I want to run indoors?”. She won the World Indoors 60m in 2014! In 2017 she took a career break to have her son, Zyon, before returning to the track to be World 100m champion in 2019 and 2022. Who will ever forget seeing her celebrate on the track in 2019 with Zyon in her arms? One more memory, I was also in the room in Brussels for the press conference in which she asked Mondo how fast he could run 100m and if he thought he could beat her! In the end it was Karsten Warholm he challenged.
Fraser-Pryce clocked 10.94s (+3.1m/s) in her 2025 season-opener in Kingston (19 April) before competing for Jamaica at the World Athletics Relays in China last weekend (10/11 May).
Speaking before the race in Doha she was really upbeat:
“I’m really excited to be here again. The 2019 (World Championships) was really special for me and I have great memories. I like to think of defying the odds in Doha. I was coming back after having my son (Zyon) in 2017 and being able to cross that line and to have that moment in Doha with my son on the track – and after turning 30 – was really special. This is the best year I’ve had in training for the last three years, so I’m looking forward to seeing the execution and putting the race together.”
“I’m an older athlete so I have to make sure I’m pacing myself the best I can. I think it works for some of us (to have the World Championships) in September. It’s given me time and it’s given me an opportunity to get back to the drawing board and regroup mentally and physically. You want to train hard but also smart. It’s having the time to train but also knowing you can take a step back before you go again.
“It’s good to have that competitive drive. I’ve raced sparingly the last two years so I really want to get that race sharpness back and to see where I’m at.”
In addition, as a Christian, she has an additional motivation. I few years ago she told me: “Just to be able to stand on the line and know ‘I am a child of God’ makes me special, makes me able to say, ‘OK whatever I am doing today is for Him’. And I hope that by me running He’ll get the glory and He’ll enjoy it as much as I am enjoying it. When I run, the first thing I tell myself is that ‘I hope God is pleased with my worship for running is my worship – my way of worshipping Him because he has given me the talents.
“There is nothing in this life that I fear. In everything I do I am aware that there is someone greater and more powerful looking over me and He is the person who warrants anything in my life. Those are two things that I hold firmly and dearly to my heart”.
At 38 she is clearly a veteran but write her off at your peril.
