Five-time world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce said she missed the Commonwealth Games 2022 earlier this month because of the short turnaround after the World Athletics Championships.
After winning the gold medal at the world championships in Eugene, Oregon, last month, Fraser-Pryce was declared as one of the high-profile athletes who would have lined up in Birmingham, England.
However, the Jamaican sprinter revealed that the Commonwealth Games was never on her timetable. Read more: [Watch video highlights] Fraser-Pryce runs WL 10.62 at Monaco Diamond League
Why did Fraser-Pryce miss the Commonwealth Games?
“Well, the Commonwealth Games was just never on the agenda for me this year,” the 35-year-old world leader told the Mirror last week. “Especially because I did the double at the World Championships, it took a lot out of me to do, and the 4x100m.
“So, to come back maybe a week or two after to do another three rounds and possibly two in the 4x100m, my coach said that would probably be too much for me to handle right now if I’m thinking about longevity and wanting to get to Paris 2024, so I had to be strategic about that,” she added.
In the absence of Fraser-Pryce and world 200m champion Shericka Jackson in Birmingham, Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah captured the sprint double and ran a brilliant anchor leg to claw the Jamaican back into third place in the women’s 4x100m relay.
Meanwhile, since winning the world title at Oregon22, Fraser-Pryce has won three 100m races in Europe, including two in the Diamond League and a world-leading 10.62 seconds.
The 2008 and 2012 Olympic champion clocked 10.66 seconds to win at the Silesia Diamond League meeting in Poland on Saturday, 6 August, before clocking 10.67 at the 2022 Gyulai Istav Memorial in Hungary two days later.
She then improved her own world lead with a 10.62 performance at the 2022 Monaco Diamond League meeting on Wednesday (10).
Fraser-Pryce has so far run a record six times faster than 10.70 seconds.
