Despite facing persistent injury challenges throughout 2024, five-time 100m world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce plans to extend her storied track and field career into another season. The Jamaican sprint legend, who has been a dominant presence on the world stage for over a decade, is set to make this comeback with a fresh coaching team.
Sources indicate that Fraser-Pryce has decided to part ways with Reynaldo Walcott, her coach at Elite Performance Track Club. The decision reportedly comes after an increasingly strained relationship between the two throughout the 2024 season, as well as Fraser-Pryce’s ongoing battle with a knee injury. Attempts to reach Walcott for comment have gone unanswered.
While Fraser-Pryce’s new coaching arrangement has not yet been formally announced, it is understood that she has already begun assembling a team to guide her forward. Andre Wellington, known for coaching World U20 100m silver medalist Bouwahghie Nkrumie, is rumored to be part of this new coaching setup. Wellington’s experience includes time with Kingston College and a stint at the Racers Track Club.
Fraser-Pryce’s association with Walcott began in 2020, when she joined him as a founding member of Elite Performance Track Club. Their partnership proved highly successful, with the 37-year-old sprinter achieving new milestones, including lowering her personal best from 10.70 seconds to 10.60 seconds. She also made history in 2022 by becoming the first woman to run under 10.7 seconds seven times in one season and secured her fifth world title at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
However, since her stellar 2022 campaign, injuries have disrupted her form. At the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Fraser-Pryce finished third in the 100m, and her performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics was cut short when she withdrew from the semi-finals, though the exact reasons remain unclear.
Fraser-Pryce’s determination to continue competing highlights her unwavering resolve to conclude her career on her own terms. As the first Jamaican woman to win Olympic gold in the 100m at the 2008 Beijing Games, she has been a trailblazer in athletics, defying the odds with every step of her journey.
Now, with a new coaching team, Fraser-Pryce will focus on overcoming her injury struggles and aiming for further success in the 2025 season. Her decision to seek new guidance follows a similar move by Olympic 110m hurdles bronze medalist Rasheed Broadbell, who recently left Elite Performance to join the MVP Track Club.
Fraser-Pryce’s perseverance in the face of challenges continues to inspire, and all eyes will be on her as she prepares for yet another season of elite competition.
