(July 19) — Swiss record-holder Mujinga Kambundji will line up against Jamaica’s reigning world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the women’s 100m dash at Thursday’s Spitzen Leichtathletik Luzern 2023 meeting. Both sprinters have had to shake off injuries this season but are now fit and ready to compete at this World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting.
Fraser-Pryce will make her season debut in the 100m on Thursday, while Kambundji has already made one appearance, clocking 11.41 seconds for eighth place at the 2023 Athletissima – Lausanne Diamond League meeting last month.
- Read more: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce set for earlier 100m debut in Luzern on July 20
- Read more: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce to give up 200m event at Budapest 2023 World Championships?
Kambundji’s performance was not a surprise to many, considering she was just returning from a long delay caused by chronic pain in her left foot—a problem she has been facing since 2017.
This season, the 2022 European 200m champion, who won the European Indoor Championships 60m title this past March, announced that she will focus solely on the 100m event as she continues to manage her conditions and stay relevant for the busy three-year championships schedule, which includes the upcoming Olympics in Paris in 2024.
On the other hand, Fraser-Pryce, a five-time world champion in the 100m event, will be running her first 100m race in 2023. She recently recovered from a knee injury she sustained in May and participated in a pair of 200m races at the 2023 Jamaica Track and Field Championships earlier this month.
During the Jamaica championships, the 36-year-old sprinter ran 22.39 seconds in the heat and followed it up with a time of 22.26 seconds for second place in the final, finishing behind world champion Shericka Jackson.
Despite her inactivity this season, Fraser-Pryce remains optimistic about running a good time at the Spitzen Leichtathletik Luzern 2023 meeting. Last year, in her season opener, the two-time Olympic champion posted a blazingly fast time of 10.67 seconds in Nairobi and replicated that performance a little over a month later in Paris.
She has won three Olympic gold medals, including relays –and is a ten-time world champion. Fraser-Pryce has a 100m personal best time of 10.60 secs and is the third-fastest woman in history.
For more information about the Spitzen Leichtathletik Luzern 2023 meeting, click here
Written by Gary Smith – Edited by Lorraine Cummings
