Shelly still upbeat

Audley Boyd, Assistant Editor - Sport

RANDALLS ISLAND, New York:

STAYING healthy is foremost on the mind of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, as she looks forward to the defence of her crown in the women's 100 metres and takes her chances in the 200m, at the 2011 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea.

Fraser-Pryce ended a rather bizarre 200-metre run near the back of the pack, at the Adidas Grand Prix at the Icahn Stadium on Randalls Island on Saturday.

"I'm just praying to God to stay healthy, qualify at my championships and just move on from there," said Fraser-Pryce who has a personal best of 22.15 for 200m.

Conditions in New York were wet, slippery, windy and cold, with temperatures dipping as low as 60 degrees, and times recorded on the day were predictably slow all round.

The Jamaican, though, was made to look quite ordinary in the half-lap event won by American world leader Allyson Felix, whose 22.92 clocking was way short of her 22.38 season's best.

Displeasure

However, the race has not impacted on Fraser-Pryce's plans.

"I'll be doing the 200m at the National Championships. I think I'm okay, I'm doing nothing out of the ordinary," she said in reference to her 200-metre performances, which includes her season best 22.69 at the Jamaica International Invitational in May.

In the past, the 24-year-old confessed her displeasure at running the event, but Fraser-Pryce said the half-lap shall become a regular part of her track competition, noting it will enhance her "potential in the 100".

She noted that Saturday's race was her last before the National Championships where she will run both the 100m and 200m.

"I'll be running one and two," she said.

Queried on the athletes who could provide her strongest rivalry at the Supreme Ventures Limited-sponsored championships, the former Wolmer's Girls student said 'whoever is in the race'.

"Everybody is my competition, once you're lined up in the race you're competition," she remarked.

Fraser-Pryce, with a 100-metre best of 10.73 seconds that gave her 100m gold at the Berlin World Champs two years ago, has competed in more 200m races this season than her 100m pet event. But while she has been winning, she has not been recording eye-popping 200m times.

The conditions were really bad on Saturday. "I couldn't come out of the corner, I was running all over the place on the corner, basically that's what happened. I thought I was going to fall, so it was just a messy 200m for me," admitted Fraser-Pryce, still able to muster a huge smile amid the disappointment.

"At the end of the day I went out and did my best, and I'm happy that I came out injury-free," said the MVP star athlete.