FRASER-PRYCE AVENGES OLYMPIC LOSS WITH 10.60

LAUSANNE: Shelly-Ann FraserPryce clocked the third-fastest women’s 100 meters in history to beat Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah at the Athletissima meeting on Thursday. Fraser-Pryce surged clear of her Jamaican rival from the blocks and timed 10.60 seconds with Thompson-Herah 0.04 back. A cooling tailwind at 1.7 meters per second was within the legal limit.

The 34-year-old Fraser-Pryce took 0.03 off the personal best she set in Jamaica in June, nine years after winning her second Olympic title in the 100. “It’s been a long season but for me I never give up, keep working hard and staying committed to the task,” she told Swiss broadcaster RTS in a post-race interview.

Both women have improved their times since ThompsonHerah retained her Olympic title in Tokyo in a blazing 10.61, where Fraser-Pryce took silver in 10.74.

On Saturday, ThompsonHerah took her personal best down to 10.54 at the Prefontaine meeting in Eugene, Oregon. That is second all-time to Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 33-year-old world record of 10.49. FraserPryce is running the fastest season of her career four years after giving birth to a son.

“I’m happy that I was able to still show up and show women that it’s definitely possible to have your career, start your family, and come back,” she said.

A packed stadium of about 12,000 spectators saw the first six runners in the 100 dip below 11 seconds. Olympic bronze medalist Shericka Jackson was again third in 10.92.

A half-hour later, the wind was up to 3.2 meters per second for the men’s 200. That meant Olympic silver medalist Kenny Bednarek’s winning time of 19.65 will not count as his personal best. Yulimar Rojas, the charismatic triple jumper, had a windassisted opening leap of 15.56 meters, just 11 centimeters short of her world record in Tokyo.

Several other prominent athletes struggled, though, in the first major post-Olympic meeting in Europe — held nine time zones away from Oregon.