Photo: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will be pushed to the limit by teammate Elaine Thompson at the Zurich Diamond League meeting today.
Organizers of the Weltklasse Zürich Diamond league 2015 have managed to secure one of the greatest 100m clashes on the women’s side for the 2015 track and field season. Two of the top athletes lining up will draw more persons to their television sets and laptop screens, two of Jamaica’s finest darlings for 2015, Shelly – Ann Fraser- Pryce and Elaine Thompson, than anyone else. The world anticipated this match-up prior to and post the Jamaica National Championship, but were denied as their coach decided to send them in separate events. And so it was also, at the just concluded World Championships in Beijing.
The double Olympic and triple World Champion over 100m, Fraser- Pryce, will match strides with the new sensation, training partner and fellow country-woman Thompson, for the first time on the international scene over that distance today.
The word on the street and in the corners has it that Fraser- Pryce easily dispatched the younger Thompson in training runs in the early season. But since the late burst of Thompson at the JAAA International Invitational Meet to dispatch a quality field that included Nigerian, Blessings Okagbare, the excitement and anticipation has seen building up and now we are ready for the game to boil down to a phenomenal and exciting climax.
If any doubts remain, the action on the Letzigrund Stadium track should provide an emphatic answer to any lingering questions as to who is the ‘Queen of women’s sprinting’ in 2015 and set up nicely the ‘Road to Rio’ for the Olympics Games where both Fraser- Pryce and Thompson are expected to vie for double honours across both sprinting disciplines.
The possibility that the form book can be turned on its head dramatically as the race unfolds in what has been a beautifully unpredictable season has the track and field world salivating. Fraser-Pryce has gone as fast as 10.74 seconds this season, with Thompson racking up an equally impressive 10.84 seconds in early season. Fraser Pryce defended her world championship title with 10.76 seconds, while Thompson was second in the 200m in a stunning personal best of 21.66 seconds. Fraser-Pryce has never run that fast over that distance!
Other fans would have anticipated the Netherlands ‘Wonder Woman’, World Championship Gold medalist over 200m, Daphene Schippers, being thrown into the mix to magnify the status of the race and create a clearer shot at the world record . But for pure intrigue and excitement this race will be on a par with some of the greatest clashes in the history of the sport. Both ladies are expected to turn up, ready to run against each other and also against a very top class line up with six other top class 100m sprinters.
Ultimately, this classic encounter, we hope, will live up to all the expectations and provide a real treat for track and field fans and lift the standard of women’s sprinting.
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