Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce: 7 iconic moments of Jamaican sprint queen's legendary career

Following track icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce's official announcement on making her final appearance at the Jamaican National Championships this weekend, Pulse Sports has taken time to write on the 7 iconic moments of her legendary career.

“In the next two days, it will be my final time gracing the National Stadium and it is honestly one of those moments that I’m looking forward to. You know why? Because I have absolutely nothing to lose and all to gain because it is your love and it’s your support and it’s your encouragement that has kept me,” said the 38-year-old five-time world champion.

“When I stand on that track on Thursday, it’s not for me, It’s for you, for the love, for the support, for the encouragement, for the resilience, for the prize, for the purpose, and the passion that you have given me, you have inspired me,” she concluded during a special and intimate ceremony organised by her longtime sponsor Nike in the presence of family members, close friends, longtime sponsors, select media, and government officials.

Fraser-Pryce, whose legendary career spanned over a decade and a half, broke into the world athletics scene after a stunning upset to win the Olympic 100m title at the Beijing 2008 Games. Ever since, she has won nineteen gold medals, ten silver, and three bronze medals across all major championships, and the Diamond League, where she has five titles.

With the legend set to hang her spikes this year, here's a look at 7 iconic races Fraser-Pryce etched her name in the history books.

The 21-year-old's breakthrough in 2008 was sudden and unexpected. Fraser-Pryce became the first Caribbean woman to win Olympic 100m gold, and her winning time of 10.78s was not only an improvement of 0.53s from her previous season's best, but it was also the second-fastest in Olympic history at the time, behind Florence Griffith Joyner's 1988 Olympic Record.

The 2009 World Championships in Berlin witnessed Fraser-Pryce win her first 100m world title, where she made a flying start and held off a late challenge from Kerron Stewart in a new PB of 10.73s.

Sports writer Matthew Brown attributed her victory to "one of the most sensational starts ever seen in a major final, as she was a metre and a half clear of the field before a tenth of the race was run.

With the victory, she joined Gail Devers of the USA as the second woman in history to hold the 100m Olympic and world titles simultaneously.

Fraser-Pryce went to the London Olympics not being the favourite to win, having had a career dip in 2010 and 2011, which allowed American sprint icon Carmelita Jeter to rise to prominence.

Notwithstanding, she lived up to the saying: "once a champion, always be a champion" by blazing to a successful title defense in 10.75s. The race was one of the fastest Olympic 100m finals ever, with six women under 11 seconds mark.

With her win, Fraser-Pryce joined Americans Wyomia Tyus (1964, 1968) and Gail Devers (1992, 1996) as the third woman to defend an Olympic 100m title.

At Moscow 2013, Fraser-Pryce continued to show consistency by becoming the first woman to sweep the 100m, 200m, and 4x100 m at a single World Championships.

Her 100m victory of 0.22-second margin ahead of silver medallist Murielle Ahouré (10.93s) was the largest in World Championship history.

She also won 200m ahead of Nigeria's sprint legend Blessing Okagbare, while Ahoure won the bronze medal. By doing this, she remains the only female sprinter in history to claim 100m and 200m title at the same world championships.

Claiming her second world title, she became the first woman to win the 100m twice at the Olympics (2008, 2012) and the World Championships (2009, 2013).

On the heels of a successful 2013 season, Fraser-Pryce made her World Indoor Championships debut in Sopot, Poland in March 2014.

She left the Polish city as the world indoor champion with a massive PB of 6.98s and became the first woman in history to hold world titles in the 60m, 100m, 200m, and 4x100m at the same time.

After giving birth to her son Zyon in 2017/2018, Fraser-Pryce returned to Doha and outpaced the field, powering away to her fourth title in a world-leading 10.71s—her fastest time since 2013.

With this achievement, she became the oldest woman (32) and first mother since Gwen Torrence at the 1995 World Championships to claim a 100m global title. She took satisfaction in her win, calling it "a victory for motherhood," and brought her two-year-old son on her victory lap around the stadium.

At the 2022 World Championships in Oregon, Fraser-Pryce led another Jamaican sweep on the podium for a record-extending fifth 100m title. Her winning time of 10.67s was her quickest 100m in a global final and erased the championship record of 10.70s, set in 1999 by Marion Jones.

Her win came almost 14 years after her first global 100m title, making her the oldest (35) world champion in any individual track event.