Fraser-Pryce begins quest for third 100m title
BEIJING, China — Defending triple champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will bow into action today in the 100m in her quest for an unprecedented third consecutive title and will be joined by Veronica Campbell Brown, Sherone Simpson and debutante Natasha Morrison at 10:00 pm Jamaica time.
Hours later will also be the final of the men’s 100m which should involve both Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell and possibly Nickel Ashmeade.
Nevertheless a host of other Jamaicans will take to the track with Salcia Slack continuing her pursuit in the heptathlon starting with the long jump followed by O’Dayne Richards in the men’s shot put.
Kaliese Spencer, Janieve Russell, Shevon Stoddart and Ristananna Tracey will take to the track in the 400m hurdles before Javon Francis, Rusheen McDonald and Pete Mathews try to navigate through the 400 metres.
The men’s 400m hurdles semi-finals are scheduled for 2:40 am tomorrow just before the 100m men’s semi-finals.
But before all that, defending 100m champion Fraser-Pryce, who looked extremely focused in training, should easily advance from her heat. She is in very good nick and based on her 10.74 and 10.79 seconds clocking coming into the Championships, it will be hard to bet against her notching her third crown. In fact, it is believed that she will break her national record of 10.70 seconds during these championships.
Meanwhile, Campbell Brown is no stranger to big events, having won the 100m at the 2007 edition in Osaka, Japan. Although not looking awesome throughout the year, she is experienced enough to time her preparation toward performing well here. She has a season’s best of 10.99 seconds.
Simpson enters the championships on a high after running a season’s best 10.95 seconds, while Morrison is yet to dip below the 11-second barrier with a best of 11.03 seconds. Both should, however, also advance from their heats.
Interestingly, the 400m hurdles should show what kind of form Spencer is in because she hasn’t competed for a while and her MVP coach Stephen Francis did mention that she had a minor setback.
“She did suffer problems in June and it was aggravated at trials. But for the last two weeks she has improved,” he noted.
Spencer has a seasonal best of 54.15 which makes her the seventh fastest this year behind world leader Shamier Little of the USA with 53.74 and the dangerous Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic with 53.76 seconds.
Eyes will also be on the men’s 400m in which a confident Javon Francis leads Rusheen McDonald and Pete Matthews into battle as they try to navigate their way from their heats.