SHELLY ANN FRASER EMERGES FROM THE DARK

It was very pleasantly surprising to see Shelly Ann Fraser pull out a fantastic win over a very strong field in New York this past weekend. 10.92 and a pretty well executed race caused her to leave Kelli Ann Baptiste, Carmelita Jeter, Alyson Felix and Tiana Madison in the dust. It would have been a good confidence booster for the diminutive young woman who is on the verge of graduation from the University of Technology.

Her graduation could not have come sooner as the past four years have been very challenging for the 2008 Olympic champion, the 2009 World Champion and the fastest Jamaican woman ever.

After two very successful years in 2008 and 2009, the next two proved to be extraordinarily challenging for Fraser, who between training, school and being a UNICEF Ambassador still found time to get married. Well, in hindsight she would have found time considering she was banned for six months for an unfortunate doping incident involving the painkiller Oxycodone.

Also during the past two years she has had to contend with injuries to her back and leg that slowed her considerably. She came face to face with that reality last August in Daegu when in attempting to defend her world title could only manage fourth place in the women’s 100 metre final behind Carmelita Jeter, Veronica Campbell Brown and Baptiste. 2012 though has offer SAFP a chance at redemption.

She told me a few months ago that her injuries for the most part are behind her and with school winding down, she can focus on getting back to her very best, hopefully in time to defend her Olympic title. As it now stands, that 10.92 makes her the fastest Jamaican woman in the world this year just ahead of Veronica Campbell Brown’s 10.94. These two women represent Jamaica’s best hopes at a female sprint medal in London as the other two women who impressed four years ago – Sherone Simpson and to a lesser extent Kerron Stewart – are for the time being nowhere close to their best. This has significant implications for Jamaica’s female sprint relay hopes in London this summer.

However, for Fraser Pryce a relay medal is kind of insignificant right now as she tries to regain her 10.73 speed that made her the darling of the world four short years ago. Earlier this season she would have had many Jamaicans, including yours truly, concerned. Yes, she opened up with 11-flat her fastest opener ever, but something was missing. She didn’t look sharp, her cadence was a bit off and she seemed to lack that power she had when she was setting records at the biggest games in her sport.

On Saturday, all those missing pieces seemed to find their way back to her racing. She got a bullet start, transitioned smoothly into her acceleration and left the field eating her dust. Yes, I know that Jeter may not have been 100 per cent and Baptiste may just have had a bad day, but with three weeks to go to the National Championships and just under two months to the Olympics, SAFP seemed to have found the right gear at just the right time.

At last it seems that the pocket rocket has returned. There are many Jamaicans out there who will start sleeping better as the Olympic Games loom ever nearer.