Fraser-Pryce scorches track
Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce clocked the top time ever in a heat of the women’s 100 metres on Saturday as the World Championships got off to a blazing start for the second straight day.
While temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius outside Khalifa Stadium, inside athletes competed in the air conditioned comfort of the futuristic venue where the thermometer hovered pleasantly in the mid-20s.
It was certainly no sweat for Fraser-Pryce, her waist-length bright yellow hair flowing behind her, as she cruised home in 10.80 seconds, the fastest time ever in a women’s 100m heat at the World Championships not including the semi-finals.
“The hair is the sunshine,” said Fraser-Pryce, Olympic champion in 2008 and 2012. “It’s definitely a wonderful feeling to be here in Doha.
“Jamaica is hot. Doha is hot, so why not bring my sunshine?
“I think it was a good run. I’m pretty excited to be able to come back.”
The controlled effort delivered a clear warning to other gold medal hopefuls as the 32-year-old bids to become the first man or woman to win four 100m world titles.
Jamaica’s women have taken over the mantle of global sprint superpower from their men whose dominance has declined since the retirement of 100 and 200m world record holder Usain Bolt, who is not competing at the Worlds for the first time since 2003.
Fraser-Pryce, who only returned to the track in earnest last year after giving birth to a son, will be joined in the semi-finals by compatriot Elaine Thompson.
Defending champion American Tori Bowie also advanced but was made to work, coming home third in her heat in a pedestrian 11.30.
DUTEE EXITS
Dutee Chand’s World Championships campaign ended in disappointment as she crashed out in the first round while 400m hurdler MP Jabir made an exit in the semi-finals .
Dutee clocked 11.48 seconds, one of her worst timings this season, in the women’s 100m heats to finish seventh in her heat and 37th overall among 47 competitors.
Running in the outermost lane, Jabir finished fifth in men’s 400m hurdles semifinals heat No 3 and 16th overall among 24 runners with a time of 49.71 seconds. The top two finishers in each of the three semi-final heats and the next two fastest runners qualify for the finals.
Jabir had qualified for the semi-finals with a timing of 49.62 seconds on Friday but he could not improve upon it on Saturday. He has a personal best of 49.13 which he had clocked this year.
For the 23-year-old Dutee, who ran in the innermost lane, it was another heartbreak as she had come to this edition of the World Championships with the hope of at least reaching the semi-finals, but alas it was not to be.