Five-time world 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has urged fans to be mindful of the things they say to athletes when things aren’t going well.

“Jamaicans have a short-term memory. You’ll do a great thing this year and come back and not have a good year and they want to beat you down to the ground,” Fraser-Pryce said to over 8,000 fans who tuned in to her Instagram live on Thursday.

There have been many instances where athletes have had a good year and, because of injuries or other troublesome circumstances, have failed to produce those performances consistently in the years after.

“It’s a whole lot they have to deal with so you have to be careful with your comments sometimes, because sometimes you make some comments and some of the athletes take them to heart and dwell on them,” Fraser-Pryce said.

“You have to big up the athletes. Every year is not the same…it’s not easy so, when you see the athletes out here representing you must know it takes a whole lot of work and they’re going to have good times and bad times,” she added.

Fraser-Pryce used her teammate and 200m gold medallist Shericka Jackson as an example. At last year’s Tokyo Olympics, Jackson failed to advance out of the heats of the 200m and, a year later, she is the world champion and fastest woman alive at the distance.

“Last year, Shericka didn’t run the 200m, and I know she cried and she came back and look, 21.45. She went back and put in the work, so you just have to understand that everything is a process and it takes time,” Fraser-Pryce said.

Five-time 100m World champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, admits the Jamaica team would benefit greatly from more relay practices but is confident they will have the ability to cause plenty of damage in the final on Saturday.

On Friday, a second-string team that featured a quartet of Briana Williams, Nataliah Whyte and Remona Burchell, and Kemba Nelson, made it to the finals with very little drama, after finishing behind Great Britain with a time of 42.37.

Even so, the Jamaican team’s changeovers were significantly slower than that of the British team who won the event with a time of 41.99.  Great Britain's combined changeover splits were clocked at 6.26, with the second place Jamaicans coming in at 6.77, the second slowest in the field.  The Jamaicans have also had their fair share of mishaps when it comes to getting the stick around in previous games.  Most notably, the team failed to complete the baton changes at the 2008 Olympic Games where they were heavy favourites.

“If I’m being honest, we don’t do a lot of relay practice in Jamaica which I think can be a downfall for us.  I think if we had time to have relay camps we would be better at the 4x100s,” Fraser-Pryce said on Friday.

With that being said, the Jamaicans have a solid record at the World Championships recently and have won the event at 4 of the last 6 editions.  With 100m champion Fraser-Pryce, 200m champion Shericka Jackson and Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah to join the line-up, for the final, the team has plenty of firepower left in reserve.

“We just pray to God when the finals come we will have a blistering run and we will have Shericka (Jackson) with that 21.4, listen it’s over!” the athlete quipped.

The Jamaica men's team, who once dominated with quartets led by the legendary Usain Bolt, also advanced out of the heats but as one of the fastest losers.  Competing in heat 2 the quartet of Ackeem Blake, Kemar Bailey-Cole, Conroy Jones and Jelani Walker finished fourth in 38.33.

Bahamian quarter-mile star Shaunae Miller-Uibo added the 400m world title to her impressive collection after dominating the event at the IAAF World Championships on Friday.

The reigning Olympic champion had failed to capture the world title on two prior occasions, at the 2015 and 2019 editions, where she was made to settle for silver. In Eugene, Oregon, the athlete, who claimed she would retire from the event after this season, seized the moment.

Miller-Uibo took charge of the race early on, before pulling well clear of the field down the stretch to stop the clock at a world-leading 49.11.  The event ended with a Caribbean sweep of the medal places as the Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino ran 49.60 for second and Barbados’ Sada Williams took a surprise third place in a new national record of 49.75.  Jamaicans Stephenie-Ann McPherson and Candice Mcleod missed out on the podium spots after finishing 5^th and 7^th.       

In the men’s equivalent, Grenadian Kirani James was forced to settle for second spot behind American Michael Norman who took the event in 44.29.  James was second in 44.48 with Matthew Hudson-Smith third in 44.66.

Two other Caribbean athletes in the event Christopher Taylor of Jamaica and Barbados’ Jonathan Jones were 7^th and 8^th respectively.

Shanieka Ricketts could not contain her joy when the reality set in that she was a World Championships triple jump silver medalist once again.

“I was overjoyed when I realized that I won the silver medal. It felt like redemption from missing the podium in Tokyo by a mere three centimetres,” she recalled while speaking with Sportsmax.TV earlier this week.

“When I remember the journey to the podium, the days that we could not train when the distances were not forthcoming, and all the times when we wondered if we would be ready, it really felt like a dream come true, and it would not be possible without the help of God, my coach Kerrylee Ricketts and my agent Norman Peart.”

After winning silver in Doha in 2019 behind the virtually invincible Venezuelan, Yulimar Rojas, Ricketts, as she pointed out, was unable to replicate the performance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where her best effort of 14.84m was only good enough for fourth.

Fast forward to 2022 when armed with the lessons learnt from Tokyo, Ricketts encountered an unexpected new challenge early in the season.

“I started experiencing some tension in my knee in January. We had to take a break from doing technical sessions and it also restricted me from doing explosive lifts and sprints for some time,” she recounted.

Those early struggles manifested in the form of a few relatively off-colour performances -13.94m at the John Wolmer Speed Fest at the National Stadium in Kingston in March; 14.27m at the Velocity Fest 10 also in Kingston on April 2 and 14.15m seven days later at the USATF Bermuda Games.

She capped off the string of underwhelming performances with a 13.95m performance at Velocity Fest 11 at the National Stadium on April 23.

Notwithstanding, the underwhelming outings, Ricketts ended up a winner in each competition but she knew she had to be much better if she was to contend for a medal in Oregon.

In fact, she admits that her confidence began to wane as the marks were nowhere close to what she needed to be able to take on the world’s best come July.

“It did to some extent, especially when things were not going as planned,” she conceded, “but, I know that every season is different and sometimes challenges occur that you have to overcome in order to reach the goals that you have. So I did my best to focus on the things that I could control, trust my coach, trust the program and trust the process and hoped for the best.”

Sure enough, things began to change.

“Things began to improve in May and there were times when I wondered if I would be able to perform at my best at the world championships because I knew that in order to be on the podium I have to jump at least 14.70 and I have not seen that result all year,” she explained.

On May 13, she produced a season-best 14.82 for yet another victory in Doha and then reeled off marks of 14.35 and 14.52 before winning at Jamaica’s National Championships with a less than stellar 14.27m.

She isn’t clear on when things finally came together but what is certain is that they did and at just the right time.

“I know that a lot of persons were ahead of me on the performance list for this season, so I had to bring my ‘A’ game in order to medal,” said Ricketts who qualified for the finals in Oregon with 14.45m but with the intention of jumping much farther once the final began on Monday night.

“The goal for the final was to produce a big jump in the first round to take the pressure off me and put the pressure on the field. Then do my best to keep improving as the rounds progressed.”

She did exactly that. 14.89m on her first jump, a mark only surpassed by Rojas, who would subsequently win her third world title in as many championships.

For Ricketts, it all came down to what happened in Tokyo last year. That was where the rebound started and ended nicely for the four-time national champion.

“Not winning a medal in Tokyo really motivated me to work harder, and to never underestimate any of my opponents.  The experience also helped me become fearless because I know how to navigate both winning and losing,” she said.

“Winning feels much better and yields the best outcomes so I always strive to win but I am not afraid to lose.”

At the conclusion of the world championships, Ricketts returns home for a few days before flying off to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England where she hopes of a golden conclusion to a season that did not begin with much promise.

Newly crowned women’s 200m world champion, Shericka Jackson, insists she was determined to put on a show for the much-anticipated event at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Oregon on Friday.

By any measure, the young Jamaican certainly succeeded in doing so.  En route to the gold medal, Jackson clocked the fastest time recorded for the event in 34 years.  As it stands, only American Florence Griffth-Joyner, whose record still stands at 21.34, has gone faster.

The Jamaican’s time of 21.45 was a new national record and eclipsed the previous mark of 21.53 recorded by her compatriot Elaine Thompson-Herah at the Beijing Olympics last year.

“I wanted to come out here and put on a show and I did just that.  The fastest woman alive, a national record, and a personal best, I can’t complain,” Jackson said.

The 28-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise to her lofty position in world sprinting having begun her professional career at the 400m distance in 2015.  The win was the first gold medal for the athlete at any major championship. 

Griffith-Joyner’s world record, however, continues to be elusive but Jackson insists that isn’t a cause for concern at the moment.

“I wasn’t thinking about any time, the world record wasn’t on my mind.  I was just going out there to execute each round as best as possible and when the time comes it comes.”

Five-time 100m World champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce considers her longevity in the sport of track and field to be a blessing having seen so many of her contemporaries bow out.

The colourful Jamaica star first burst onto the world stage in 2008, as a 21-year-old, after capturing gold at the Beijing Olympics.  One year later, the athlete proved she would be a force to be reckoned with after repeating the feat at the 2009 Berlin World Championship. 

In a sport that is marked as much for its brevity at the very top level, as much as it is for blazing speed, 13 years later Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was once again crowned world champion in Oregon this week after dashing to gold in a blistering 10.67, her fastest time at a major games, at a jaw-dropping 35-years old.

As a testament to her remarkable longevity, the sprinter has remained the one constant in a changing sea of 100m athletes during the period.  In the previous four World Championships finals, Fraser-Pryce has competed against 23 different athletes, the majority of which have now retired from the sport.  

“Each time I step out on to the track I’m always feeling blessed to be able to do it because I know there are so many people I’ve competed with who have retired or they are injured or whatever it is.  I’m just feeling blessed and am grateful to be able to continue,” Fraser-Pryce said.

In addition to being the oldest sprinter to win the 100m title, she also embarked on the journey of motherhood after taking time away from the sport in 2017 to have her first child, only to return to dominate.

“Age is a part of life, everyone will get to that stage, and taking time out to have a child is just part of the journey.”

Jamaica Reggae Girlz forward Khadijah Shaw and midfielder Drew Spence have been named to the Concacaf W Championship Best XI for the recently concluded tournament.

The duo was outstanding for the Jamaica national team who finished third overall at the event behind winners the United States and second place Canada.

The typically outstanding Shaw, the Jamaica national team’s all-time leading scorer, managed to net a tournament-leading three goals, which added up for a very productive 12 overall.

The introduction of Tottenham Hotspurs midfielder Spence was a major boost for the Jamaicans as she racked up a tournament-leading 15 pass interceptions an assist and a goal.

Also joining Shaw and Spence in the W Championship Best XI was Haiti livewire Melchie Dumornay who proved a slippery customer for opposing defenses to handle time and time again.  The Caribbean players were selected as part of a 3-4-3 formation.  The rest of the team was comprised of players from the United States and Canada.

Full squad

GK Kailen Sheridan, Canada 

DF Becky Sauerbrunn, United States 

DF Vanessa Gilles, Canada 

DF Naomi Girma, United States

MF Melchie Dumornay, Haiti 

MF Rose Lavelle, United States 

MF Jessie Fleming, Canada

MF Drew Spence, Jamaica

FW Julia Grosso, Canada 

FW Alex Morgan, United States

FW Khadija Shaw, Jamaica

Reggae Girlz coach Lorne Donaldson insists the team was prepared for a battle of attrition with Costa Rica after several recent close encounters between the teams.

A second-half extra-time goal from Kalyssa van Zanten secured a 1-0 win for Jamaica in a hard-fought encounter against their Central Americans in the third-place playoff.  The win capped off a successful tournament for the Jamaicans who secured third place and with it a chance to qualify for the 2024 Olympics.

Having successfully secured a spot in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Jamaicans will now have the chance to make more history when they face defending champions Canada in a home-and-away play-off next year.  Getting past Costa Rica proved to be a challenge. 

“We knew it was going to be a very tight game.  Every time we play Costa Rica it comes down to the second half or overtime so we figured if we could get some speed on the field late on, we could get something, and Kiki came on and had a good finish,” Donaldson said.

The last 6 matches between the teams have been decided by a 1-0 score line with Costa Rica winning 3 of the matches with one draw.  The coach was also full of praise for the young goal scorer.

“She’s been in a few games she’s a rookie, she’s a young player so she got over excited but this game she was calmer.  When we looked in her eyes when I spoke to her, I told her you to have a goal in your boot and gave her some confidence but she has been growing confident.”

The Jamaica Olympic Association issued a statement on Tuesday congratulating the national senior women’s and under-19 men’s teams on their silver medals at the recently concluded Rugby Americas North tournament held at the UWI Mona Bowl.

The women's senior team narrowly missed out on first place losing to USA South 14-17 in the final while the men's under-19 team suffered a 10-56 loss to the same opponents.

“The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) congratulates our member, the Jamaica Rugby Football Union, and its players for historic and silver medal performances in the recently concluded 2022 RAN Senior Women’s 12s and Men’s Under-19 tournament at the University of the West Indies,” said JOA President Christopher Samuda in the statement.

The statement continued: “Rugby in the local Olympic movement is quickly becoming a flagship sport and the JOA will continue to invest in our Reggae Crocs who are demonstrating that the nation's talent is deep and our prowess multi-faceted.”

“The JOA will always invest in giving reality to the ambitions and aspirations of our youth in sport. The sport of rugby is tough and gruelling and our men and women continue to put their health on the line for a nation. The JOA remains extremely grateful to our national players for their valour and salute them for their admirable display of patriotism.”

Kalyssa Van Zanten's goal in extra-time strike earned Jamaica's Reggae Girlz a 1-0 victory over Costa Rica to secure third place in the CONCACAF Women’s Championships in Mexico on Monday night.

Jamaica’s senior men's football team, the Reggae Boyz, is set to play Morocco, Qatar and Ghana in a four-team tournament to run from August 20-26, 2022.

World Championships 100m semi-finalist Kemba Nelson will be training with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce under the guidance of Reynaldo Walcott at Elite Performance come next season.

Despite winning a record-extending fifth 100m world title, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is hungry for more. The 35-year-old Fraser-Pryce won the World Athletics Championships 100m title in a new championship record of 10.67, breaking the previous record set by the USA’s Marion Jones in 1999.

While wearing a stylish wig mirroring her country's national colours, Fraser-Pryce led a Jamaican sweep as Shericka Jackson claimed the silver medal in a personal best of 10.73, which sees her surpass compatriot Merlene Ottey as the third-fastest Jamaican woman. Only Fraser-Pryce (10.60) and Elaine Thompson-Herah (10.54) have run faster.

Thompson-Herah, the Tokyo Olympics 100m champion, was third this time around in a relatively pedestrian 10.81 as the Jamaican women swept the medal places in consecutive global championships.

However, the moment belonged to the 35-year-old Pocket Rocket, who had won the previous 100m titles in 2009, 2013, 2015 and an unprecedented fourth in 2019. She was fourth in Daegu in 2011 because of injury and missed out in 2017 because she was pregnant with her son Zyon.

“I can't even imagine the amount of times I've had setbacks and I've bounced back and I'm here again," said Fraser-Pryce, who became the first athlete to win five titles in the same running event since the World Championships began in 1983.

Only pole vaulter Sergey Bubka, hammer thrower Pawel Fajdek and discus great Lars Riedel have also won the same single disciple five or more times.

 "I continue to remind myself that sometimes it's not because you don't have the ability, but it's the right time. Today was the right time," she continued.

"I feel blessed to have this talent and to continue to do it at 35, (after) having a baby, still going, and hopefully inspiring women that they can make their own journey," added Fraser-Pryce.

"Whenever I'm healthy I'm going to compete. I'm hungry, I'm driven and I always believe I can run faster and I'm not going to stop until I stop believing that."

Fraser-Pryce has now been involved in three 100m medal sweeps for Jamaica. She was the winner in a Jamaican 1-2-2 finish with Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was second to Thompson-Herah in a Jamaican 1-2-3 at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Shericka Jackson won the bronze.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce laid claim to being the greatest female 100m sprinter of all time when she won her fifth 100m world title at the 2022 World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on Sunday.

Three of Jamaica’s four ladies advanced to the finals of the 100m at the 2022 World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on Sunday. However, only Olympic champion Hansle Parchment managed safe passage into the finals of the 110m hurdles.

In a display of supreme sprinting from the Caribbean nation of just under three million, Shericka Jackson, Elaine Thompson-Herah and four-time champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce easily won their respective heats keeping alive hopes of a Jamaican sweep.

Jackson, drawn in the first heat with Dina Asher-Smith, Kemba Nelson, Julien Alfred and Twanisha Terry, showed her class while cruising to victory in 10.84 with Asher-Smith finishing second in 10.89 to advance to the final.

Nelson was sixth in 11.25 while Alfred was disqualified after a false start.

Thompson-Herah was equally at ease winning her heat in 10.82 with Marie Jose Ta Lou running a season-best 10.87 for second. USA champion Melissa Jefferson, who was third in 10.92 and Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji (10.97) also advanced to the finals as the fastest losers.

There was some controversy in the final heat as Tynia Gaither of the Bahamas was disqualified for a false start. However, the re-start was delayed when she questioned the starters and claimed that she did not move.

She eventually relented and left the track.

On the re-start Fraser-Pryce, who is going for an unprecedented fifth title, topped the heat in 10.93 with Aleia Hobbs of the United States (10.96) taking the other automatic qualifying spot. Great Britain’s Daryll Neita missed out on a place in the final despite running 10.97 while finishing third.

Meanwhile, Olympic champion Hansle Parchment is the lone Jamaican advancing to the final of the 110m hurdles.

Parchment ran an easy 13.02 to easily win the third of three heats that also included Devon Allen, clocked 13.09 for second place. Shane Brathwaite (13.21) of Barbados and Damian Czykier of Poland (13.22) who were third and fourth, respectively also advanced to the finals as fastest losers.

The Polish hurdler was 0.05 faster than Jamaica’s Rasheed Broadbell who was third in his semi-final in 13.27 despite hitting several hurdlers. The heat was won by NCAA champion Trey Cunningham in 13.07 ahead of Spain’s Azier Martinez, whose time of 13.26 was 0.01 ahead of Broadbell.

Orlando Bennett was sixth in the first semi-final in 13.67. Reigning world champion Grant Holloway ran a season-best 13.01 to win ahead of Great Britain’s Joshua Zeller (13.31). Both also advanced to the final.