Olympic Gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce recently won her fifth 100m title and broke records on Sunday at the World Championships as Jamaica swept up all three medals.
Leading the group, Fraser-Pryce held her form throughout the sprint race and clocked in a record total time of 10.67 as her national teammates, Shericka Jackson and Elaine Thompson-Herah, recorded their best total times of 10.73 and 10.81, earning silver and gold respectively.
At the age of 35, Fraser-Pryce’s latest win not only makes her the first person to win five world titles in an individual track event but also the oldest world champion in an individual track event, surpassing American sprinter Justin Gatlin for the title.
“Whenever I’m healthy, I’m going to compete. I’m hungry, I’m driven and I always believe I can run faster and I’m not going to stop until I stop believing that,” Fraser-Pryce told reporters, according to CNN. “I can’t even imagine the amount of times I’ve had setbacks and I’ve bounced back and I’m here again.”
The track star’s latest win marks the second world championship title for a 100m race she’s won since she became a mom in 2017. Fraser-Pryce has been publicly open with the pressure she felt following the announcement of her pregnancy as others urged her to retire, believing her career to be over.
After undergoing an emergency c-section to deliver her son Zyon, the sprinter was forced to take some time away from winning world titles to rehabilitate and raise her son.
“After having my son, I had good meets and I had very bad meets,” Fraser-Pryce told Sports Illustrated in March. “But for the first time I was able to go back home, look at him, have a smile and be happy. Know that tomorrow it’s going to be good. It’s going to work.”
“I needed that extra motivation, that extra push, that extra love,” she added.
As she continued to improve each year, Fraser-Pryce showed the world that she was not yet out of the race with her 2019 100m win at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, clocking in a total time of 10.71.
Still, out of all her world title wins starting from 13 years ago when she won her first for the 100m race, Fraser-Pryce said her latest one is her favorite, calling it a “victory for motherhood.”
“It’s not easy, I don’t just turn up. I have to work,” she told reporters. “To continue to do it at 35, having a baby, still going — hopefully, I’m inspiring women that they can make their own journey.”
