THE remarkable Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce ascended back to the throne of world sprinting in Doha and, in her wake, followed a woman who many will now see as her successor.
Dina Asher-Smith’s star has been on a steady rise for some time now but the 23-year-old moved into a new stratosphere altogether by taking 100m silver at the Khalifa Stadium.
She lowered her own British record to 10.83 (0.1 m/sec) to land her nation’s first ever individual women’s medal at the distance in world championships history behind the remarkable, world-leading 10.71 performance of a Jamaican who has made a spectacular return to the sport since becoming a mother two years ago.
Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast took bronze in 10.90, while Olympic champion Elaine Thompson finished out of the medals in fourth place after clocking 10.93.
Two-time world 200m champion Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands did not contest the final due to an adductor problem she felt after qualifying in the semi-finals.
On the evening Tori Bowie was sprinting to 100m gold at London 2017, Fraser-Pryce was going into labour but, in 2019, she wrapped her arms around her son Zyon on the track in Qatar as she celebrated the capture of her eighth world title – four of which have come over 100m.
She had gone into the final looking like the favourite, having been fastest throughout qualifying and laying down an ominous marker of 10.80 in the opening heat (the fastest ever recorded at this stage of the event) and 10.81 in the semi-final.
After the spectacular light show, she made her trademark lightning start, the 32-year-old quickly established a lead and could not be caught.
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