5. SHELLY-ANN FRASER-PRYCE
The ‘Pocket Rocket’ didn’t exactly run her most fantastic times this year. However, she delivered when it mattered most, thus earning her slot in our list of Top 6 Sprinters in 2015. Fraser-Pryce began the year on a shaky note, losing out in the 200m at the Jamaican Invitational to Shaunae Miller before finishing 5th in the 100m at the Shanghai DL.
She thereafter recorded an improvement in her performance and rallied to win the 100m at the Prefontaine Classic where she set a Season’s Best (SB) of 10.81s, narrowly beating Murielle Ahouré who clocked the same time. She stormed to a WL and MR of 10.74s at the Paris DL, and recorded another victory in Stockholm.
The reigning Olympic champion decided not to defend her 200m world title in Beijing, concentrating solely on the 100m. Defending her 100m world title was not going to be an easy task as she had Blessing Okagbare, Dafne Schippers, Tori Bowie and Ahouré to contend with. Fraser-Pryce won her races in the heats and semis, and was faced with a daunting challenge in the final.
The 29-year old had to dig deep to return the second fastest time of the season (10.76s) to snatch GOLD ahead of Schippers and Bowie. She consolidated on this feat with a blistering anchor leg for Jamaica in the 4x100m, clocking a Championship Record (CR) of 41.07s and taking her tally of World Championships GOLD medals to seven.
She ended the season on a high by winning the Diamond Trophy, posting a victory in her final race of the year in Zurich. She also retained her No.1 spot in the world rankings in the 100m, regaining the position which was occupied by Bowie last year.
