Jamaican sprint legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce capped her World Athletics Championships career with a silver medal in Tokyo on Sunday, anchoring a remarkable run that began 18 years ago.
The 38-year-old, nicknamed the Mommy Rocket, ran the opening leg of Jamaica’s women’s 4x100m relay in a head-to-head against USA’s sprint double champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden. Fraser-Pryce held her own, handing over to Tia Clayton level with the Americans.
However, a sluggish exchange between the Clayton twins cost Jamaica crucial ground. Jonielle Smith fought hard on the anchor leg but could not reel in Sha’Carri Richardson, who powered USA to gold in 41.75 seconds. Jamaica finished just 0.04 seconds behind, while Germany claimed bronze.
The medal brought Fraser-Pryce’s World Championships tally to 17 — 10 golds, six silvers, and one bronze — second only to Allyson Felix (20). Notably, she holds the record for most individual sprint golds with six.
It was a fitting conclusion for Fraser-Pryce, who made her Worlds debut in 2007 in Osaka, winning silver as a reserve in the 4x100m relay.
“I really wanted to make sure I gave them a great start because I knew we had a good team and we were contenders,” Fraser-Pryce said afterwards. “We didn’t get the gold but we got our silver medal. We have to be grateful for what we’ve accomplished and we’re walking away with a medal.”
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