Watch video highlights of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce season opener in the women’s 200 meters at Saturday’s Velocity Fest 8 Meet at the National Stadium in Kingston.
Fraser-Pryce opened her Olympic season with a solid 23.19 seconds performance to win Section Two of the event racing in a negative wind of -1.6 meters per second. The time was the fastest overall from the two heat-timed finals.
The two-time Olympic 100m champion raced from lane five and easily covered her rivals in the opening 100m of the contest before cruising home to victory.
The 34-year-old who now represents Elite Performance is preparing for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, later this summer. At the last Games at Rio 2016, Fraser-Pryce battled through toe discomfort to win a bronze medal in the 100m behind then-training partner Elaine Thompson-Herah.
Fraser-Pryce, who is the joint fourth-fastest woman all-time over the 100m (alongside Thompson-Herah) with a time of 10.70 seconds, owns a personal best of 22.09 seconds for the 200m and she is hoping to finally break into the sub-22 seconds barrier before she steps away from track and field.
Saturday’s Velocity Fest 8 Meeting was the first competitive appearance for Fraser-Pryce since last August when she raced in two of the Velocity Fest meets.
Meeting organizers continue to show confidence in hosting track and field meetings in Jamaica, despite the voice of concerns over the surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.
