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≡ SHELLY-ANN FRASER-PRYCE ≡
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games did not go the way Jamaican superstar Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce wanted. She qualified second in her heat of the women’s 100 m in 10.92, but an injury sidelined her for the semis and left her not only out of the 100, but the 4×100 m relay as well.
Although she expected to retire after Paris, she has now indicated she’ll be back – at 38 – for one more season in 2025, although she has not raced yet:
● She told Fox5 New York during a 29 January interview promoting her plant-based hair-care line Afimi, that she “has one more year left.”
● Last Thursday (10th), she posted a career highlights video and added “unfinished business.”
It’s hard to overestimate the impact that Fraser-Pryce – all of five feet tall – has had as an athlete and a role model, especially in Jamaica.
She made her first World Championships appearance in 2007 on the Jamaican 4×100 m relay that won silver and then went on a tear:
● 2007: Worlds 4×100 m silver
● 2008: Olympic 100 m gold
● 2009: Worlds 100 m gold, 4×100 m gold
● 2011: Worlds 4×100 m silver
● 2012: Olympic 100 m gold, 200 m silver, 4×100 m silver
● 2013: Worlds 100 m gold, 200 m gold, 4×100 m gold
● 2015: Worlds 100 m gold, 4×100 m gold
● 2016: Olympic 100 m bronze, 4×100 m silver
● 2019: Worlds 100 m gold, 4×100 m gold
● 2021: Olympic 100 m silver, 4×100 m gold
● 2022: Worlds 100 m gold, 200 m silver, 4×100 m silver
● 2023: Worlds 100 m bronze, 4×100 m silver
That’s eight Olympic medals (3-4-1) and 16 Worlds medals (10-5-1) across 16 seasons, including time out for maternity. She had the world-leading 100 m mark in six different seasons, including 2008-12-13-15-19-22, and is no. 3 all-time at 10.60 from 2021 (post-maternity). Amazing.
Fraser-Pryce said in her Fox5 interview that her return to gold in 2019 after having a son was especially impressive for her, as she wasn’t sure she could get back to championship form.
She has been running more sparingly in recent seasons, with 11 meets in the 100 and 200 m in 2022, then only four in 2023 and just three in 2024, all in the 100 m, ending after the heats in Paris.
Even with an abbreviated season in 2024, she still ranked 13th in the world at 10.91, so if she can fully healthy, she can be a factor in 2025. But she will end her career as an icon, for sure.
Fraser-Pryce will join former 400 m hurdles world-record holder and 2016 Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad (USA) as confirming their retirements after this season.
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