“There is no barrier when it comes to your passion and calling, as time honors greatness.” Words from Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce as she collected her first Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has been competing at major Championships for the island of Jamaica since making her debut by running in the Heats of the 4×100 meters relay at the 2007 Osaka World Championships where the team eventually earned silver in the Final.
Over the years Fraser-Pryce has created history and broken many barriers for the region. In 2008 she became the first Caribbean woman to win the 100 meters gold at the Beijing Olympics, leading home the first of three Jamaican clean sweeps in the event.
Throughout the first ten seasons of her career, she was able to win six Olympic medals and nine World Championship medals across the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4×100 meters relay. All of this was done before 2017 when she decided to take her maternity leave to give birth to her son Zyon during the time of the London World Championships.
After giving birth, most fans thought that after having such as successful career Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce would have retired. But being the determined person she is, Fraser-Pryce decided to return to the sport that made her famous in early 2018 as she had plans to make it to the 2019 Doha World Championships.
She came back to the sport with a new attitude and added determination as the popularly known Pocket Rocket was now the Mommy Rocket. Fraser-Pryce created history that season as she became one of the few mothers to have run sub11 in the 100 meters when she ran 10.98 seconds at the London Anniversary Games to signal that she was going to come back even better.
Fast forward to 2019 when Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce became the first mother in twenty-four years to win the 100 meters at the Doha World Championships with a time of 10.71 seconds to become the world’s fastest mother.
As the last mother to have won the 100 meters title at the World Championships was Gwen Torrence of the United States when she did so at the 1995 Gothenburg edition of the meet.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce continued to rewrite the history books when she became the first Caribbean woman to run sub10.7 when she ran 10.63 seconds at the Olympic Destiny Series just weeks before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
She also finally broke the 22-second barrier in the 200 meters when she ran a Personal Best of 21.79 seconds to win at the Jamaican Olympic Trials. Despite being so dominant her Olympics did not go according to plan as she placed second in the 100 meters behind her teammate Elaine Thompson-Herah, placed fourth in the 200 meters, and placed first in the 4×100 meters relay. Like the true champion she is, Fraser-Pryce continued to compete in the 100 meters after the Olympics.
She was able to run her current Personal Best of 10.60 seconds to win the 100 meters at the Lausanne Diamond League to end her Diamond League season that year. For 2022 Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce entered the season with the intention of having fun and that happened.
She went on a trajectory of running seven times below the 10.7 seconds barrier in the 100 meters and two times under the 22 seconds barrier in the 200 meters. In addition to this, she became the only athlete in World Athletics history to have the most World Titles in an individual event as she won her fifth 100 meters title at the Eugene World Championships.
Along with earning silver both in the 200 meters and 4×100 meters relay. Fraser-Pryce ended her 2022 season by running a 100 meters Meeting Record of 10.65 seconds to win the Zurich Diamond League.
With her dominating the 2022 season, it would seem fit that she would have been nominated for the prestigious Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year.
The Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year is one that is given out to the most successful sportswoman across a plethora of global sports. Fraser-Pryce, having been nominated for the award five times before, was not certain that she would have won. But this time it was in her favor.
On Monday, 8 May 2023, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was able to receive the award after over a decade of dominance in Track and Field.
Fraser-Pryce being her usual gracious self was quite happy as she gave her acceptance speech. Earning this award should give Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce added confidence as she heads into her 2023 season to win an unprecedented sixth World Championship Title in the 100 meters at the Budapest World Championships later this summer.
Let us congratulate Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce on winning the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year. What do you think of this accomplishment by Shelloy Ann Fraser-Pryce? Let us know in the comment section below.
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