Coaches bat for Fraser-Pryce but ...

While SprinTec head coach Maurice Wilson and Titans Track club coach Michael Frater are making strong cases for five-time 100m World champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce to be crowned 2022 World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year, both acknowledge that she will have to thwart opposition in what they have called the strongest field of nominees in recent years.

Fraser-Pryce, along with world 200 metres champion Shericka Jackson, was among the 10 shortlisted athletes for the honour announced on Wednesday by World Athletics. The field includes World 400m hurdles champion and world record holder Sydney McLaughlin and World 100m hurdles champion and world record holder Tobi Amusan

It is a cast that both concur as being the toughest field in years. However, Wilson said that Fraser-Pryce’s body of work gives her a strong case

“This is one of the most competitive fields in a long while. What stands out in my mind is the progress of Tobi Amusan. So I think she is going to be a very strong competitor. But, if we were to look for someone who inspires, someone who has stayed the journey and continues to perform, you would have to look at Shelly-Ann,” Wilson told The Gleaner. “I think she is a good candidate because she would have defended her World Championship crown but she would have run more sub 10.7 seconds times than anyone else.”

Greatest female sprinters in history

Fraser-Pryce ran seven sub 10.7 seconds times this season, including a world-leading 10.62 in Monaco in August. She also cemented her legacy as one of the greatest female sprinters in history, defending her world 100m title at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in a championship record time of 10.67. Jackson captured her first World title in a championship record of 21.45, the second fastest women’s 200m time in history, earning her first World Athletics individual award nomination.

Even with those resume’s, Frater said that the biggest obstacles would be the world record performances of McLaughlin and Amusan. McLaughlin broke the record by clocking 51.41 seconds in June, and lowered it to 50.68 in Eugene while Amusan ran 12.12 seconds for her record.

“They both broke the world record and they did it at the championships as well. Any other season, it would be an easy win for Shelly. But Sydney stands out a little more than Tobi because she broke the record twice. It is going to be a tough one,” Frater said. “Sydney didn’t run as much this year but, every time she touched the track, she won and she ran very fast. For Tobi, this was her breakout year. She won some, she lost some, but she won the two biggest ones, the World Championships and the Diamond League final. I think it’s going to be between those four ladies.

Wilson said that, while the world record times have weight, it is important that the context of the world record be taken into account as well.

“The world record has to be an important aspect which Amusan and McLaughlin would have done. But do you judge all world records the same? What about a world record that has been there for 20 years? If you have a world record that has been there for 20 years and you have a record that somebody breaks every three years, which one appears to be at a higher standard?”

The previous 100m hurdles world record, set by Kendra Harrison of the United States (12.20), stood for six years.

MVP track club coach and former world 100m hurdles champion Brigitte-Foster Hylton said that, even with world records boosting the resume’s of both McLaughlin and Amusan, Fraser-Pryce’s dominance in the 100m this year gives her the edge.

The winner will be determined in December with public voting counting 25 per cent of the total votes.

daniel.wheeler@gleanerjm.com