Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce may have missed the podium in Brussels, but her eyes remain fixed firmly on the ultimate prize: closing out one of athletics’ most decorated careers on her own terms. The 38-year-old Jamaican sprint queen finished fourth in the women’s 100m at the Diamond League meet on Friday, clocking 11.17 seconds in a race won by American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden ahead of world champion Sha’Carri Richardson and Britain’s Daryll Neita.
Also Read: Sinner Begins US Open Title Defence as Swiatek and Gauff Eye Glory
For a woman who has run 10.60 and is the third-fastest in history, the time may not have sparkled, but Fraser-Pryce’s spirit did. She was upbeat, determined, and already looking ahead to the world championships in Tokyo from September 13 to 21, where she will hang up her spikes after an extraordinary 17-year journey at the very top of her sport.
“I’ve made a world championships team, so I’m looking forward to the world championships, that’s the goal,” she said after the race. With three Olympic gold medals, 10 world titles, and a staggering 25 medals across global championships, Fraser-Pryce’s résumé is unmatched. Her success, she reflected, was built on a simple but powerful formula: confidence, hard work, and knowing when the time is right to step away. “I’m looking forward to just finishing the chapter and ending this career in a magnificent way. And I’m sure it’ll work out in Tokyo.”
The setting itself is poetic. Fraser-Pryce’s very first senior world championships came in Japan back in 2007, in Osaka, where she was thrust onto Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team and ran the anchor leg. That experience, she says, transformed her outlook and lit the fire that carried her to global dominance. “I was just really unsure of who I was. I didn’t want to run, I just wanted to enjoy the moment,” she recalled. “And then I was placed on the 4x100m team through an anchor leg. It really transformed the way I think … and then that just changed the rest of history for me.”
Now, nearly two decades later, she returns to Japan for her final bow. With just three weeks until the championships, she admitted there is little room for drastic change. “There’s not much you can really do more than just fine tuning the things that you’ve been doing and continue to work on those things, and trust that everything will fall into place,” she said. Her start, she noted, has been a work in progress, but her experience gives her perspective: “I’m experienced enough to know that I have to focus on my own lane with my own race.”
As for rivals, Fraser-Pryce was candid in her assessment. On paper, Jefferson-Wooden is the favourite heading into Tokyo. “But you have to run the race. That’s just how it is,” she said, a reminder that medals are won on the track, not on paper. For her, the real challenge is internal. “My focus is to run my race and to focus on what my goals are, and hopefully all these races that I’ve been able to do will help me to put the race together.”
It is that unwavering focus that has defined her career. She no longer has to prove who she is, because her legacy is already written in gold. “I already know who I am. I know who I am, know what I’m about. I already have a championship mindset.”
And so, as the Tokyo world championships approach, Fraser-Pryce is not chasing validation but a finish worthy of her greatness. For a generation of athletes and fans alike, her farewell promises to be as magnificent as the career that came before it.
