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Fraser-Pryce determined to do well

Published:Friday | August 26, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Defending World women's 100 metres champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (right) and Veronica Campbell-Brown who was fourth in the event in 2009 at a JAAA/Puma press conference held at a cultural hall in Daegu, South Korea, yesterday. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

DAEGU, South Korea:

This has been anything but a commanding or even convincing season so far for reigning Olympic and world 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, with the diminutive sprinter battling injuries while her opponents keep getting faster.

However, for Fraser-Pryce, this has been a learning experience for her, one that she is certain will help her significantly in her attempts to become only the second woman since Marion Jones to win back-to-back world 100 metres titles.

"This has not been my best season but at the end of the day, I am happy with it," said Fraser-Pryce. "As a sprinter you cannot expect to be 100 percent fit all the time you have to take the good with the bad. In fact I feel that if I train hard and push my body to certain limits, I'm supposed to feel pain, so I am not too disappointed."

"In fact, this season has taught me perseverance and to fight on as well, because things are never always perfect," she added.

Fraser-Pryce enters the fray as the sixth fastest woman over 100m this year but believes that she will once again deliver when it matters most, during the championship.

"I have a God-given ability to compete and I think that in addition to that I have trained hard. At the end of the day, it's never easy but I always try to be strong mentally and physically and just go out and do my best at all times because that's what counts," Fraser-Pryce said, before speaking to her improved strength going into the contest this year.

"As you know I have done some work on my strength at the end with some extra 200m this season," said Fraser-Pryce. "I realised that at the end of the race, my competitors are always catching me up and that came down to strength and so I decided to do some extra 200m. I hated the 200m ... but I worked really hard in the 200m and sacrificed a lot and I think it paid off."

Fraser-Pryce will get her title-defending campaign off and running on Sunday (Saturday 10.10 p.m. Jamaica time) in the heats of the 100m.