(August 14) —— The in-form Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce can break the Jamaica national 100m record this season, according to her coach Reynaldo Walcott. The five-time world 100m champion has a personal best of 10.60 seconds and is the third-fastest woman in history in the event.
Fraser-Pryce, who is having an exceptional season, won her fifth world title over the 100m at the World Athletics Championships 2022 in Oregon, last month to lead a magical Jamaican podium sweep for the second successive time at a global championship.
After blasting to 10.66 seconds to win the 100m at the Wanda Diamond League Meeting in Chorzów on 6 August, the 35-year-old extended that fruitful form by lowering her own world lead to 10.62 for another victory at the 2022 Monaco Diamond League last Wednesday.
Fraser-Pryce has so far posted a record six clockings under 10.70 seconds in a single year and Walcott believes her consistent high performances suggest she is in the kind of shape to break the 10.54 seconds Jamaican national record, set by Olympic sprint double champion Elaine Thompson-Herah during the 2021 campaign.
“Definitely, she can do it, her last three races have suggested that she has been going marginally faster than before,” Walcott was quoted as telling The Jamaica Gleaner. Read more: [Watch video highlights] Fraser-Pryce runs WL 10.62 at Monaco Diamond League
“She did 10.62 in the last race and that is eight-hundredth of a second away from the national record, so I mean are we saying that somebody can’t improve by eight-hundredth of a second? My answer would be, yes,” he said.
“People can improve by eight-hundredth of a second and so I think it is definitely possible this season,” Walcott added.
After side-stepping the just concluded Commonwealth Games 200m in Birmingham, England, to get some much-needed rest to prepare for her busy European schedule, Fraser-Pryce announced that she will hit the snooze again as she looks to reset in an attempt to close out the 2022 term on a high.
Will we see her dropping a new lifetime best before the campaign is over?
We never know, but her coach appears to be very confident.
Photo: Diamond League AG
