Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the 2008 and 2012 Olympic 100m champion, matched her 2022 world-leading time by clocking 10.67 seconds at a Diamond League meet in Paris on Saturday.
Fraser-Pryce consolidated her favorite status for next month’s world championships by equaling the 10.67 she ran on May 7 in her only other 100m race this year. Fraser-Pryce is the only woman to ever break 10.70 seconds before July 1 in any year.
This year, the next fastest woman is reigning Olympic 100m champ Elaine Thompson-Herah, way back at 10.79. Fraser-Pryce and Thompson-Herah could go head-to-head in the 100m and 200m at the Jamaican Championships next week, though Fraser-Pryce has a bye into July’s world championships 100m as defending champion.
Fraser-Pryce took a backseat last year to Thompson-Herah, including a 100m silver at the Olympics. Thompson-Herah has been challenged by injuries this spring and has yet to race against Fraser-Pryce in 2022.
At the last worlds in 2019, Fraser-Pryce became the oldest woman to win an Olympic or world 100m title. At these worlds, she can become the oldest Olympic or world champion in any sprint, flat or hurdles, according to Bill Mallon of Olympedia.org.
Full Paris results are here. The Diamond League takes a break next week as countries like the U.S. and Jamaica hold national championships, the qualifying meets for the world championships next month in Eugene, Oregon.
In other events Saturday, American Valarie Allman outdueled Croatian Sandra Perkovic in a battle between the last two Olympic discus champions. Allman won with a 68.68-meter throw, edging Perkovic by 49 centimeters. On Thursday in Oslo, Perkovic handed Allman her first defeat of the season, though Allman was wearing sneakers and not throwing shoes.
Devon Allen won his third 110m hurdles race in a six-day span, clocking 13.16. Allen, who last Sunday ran 12.84 for the third-fastest time in history, is headed to Philadelphia Eagles training camp as a wide receiver after worlds.
Two-time Olympic triple jump champion Christian Taylor was seventh in his first Diamond League meet in three years and since missing the Tokyo Games with a torn Achilles. Cubans Jordan Diaz Fortun and Andy Diaz, who rank Nos. 1 and 2 in the world this year, went one-two. Diaz Fortun prevailed by one centimeter with a 17.66-meter jump. Taylor has a bye into worlds as defending champion.
Olympic champion Andre De Grasse was fourth in the 200m won by South African Luxolo Adams in 19.82. De Grasse, who prevailed in Tokyo in a Canadian record 19.62, has a best time this year of 20.15 in three 200m races.
Bahamian Olympic 400m champions Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Steven Gardiner each won the one-lap race but continue to trail in the 2022 world rankings. Miller-Uibo, who clocked 50.10, ranks behind Dominican Marileidy Paulino‘s 49.49 by best times this year. Gardiner won in 44.21, trailing American Michael Norman‘s 43.60 from the Pre Classic three weeks ago.
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