PADUA, Italy, CMC – World champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce shaved one hundredth of a second off legendary Jamaican Merlene Ottey’s meet record, as she won the 100 metres at the Atletica Mondiale here Sunday.
Racing in the historic northern Italian city just three days after winning at the Zurich Diamond League, Fraser-Pryce sped to a time of 10.98 seconds to install herself as the new record-holder at the meet.
Brazilian Rosangela Santos finished second in 11.42 seconds while American Shalonda Solomon trailed in third in 11.50, barely edging out Jamaican Natasha Morrison who finished fourth in the same time.
“It was a big surprise to hear that I broke Ottey’s meeting record, I did not know about that,” said Fraser-Pryce, who dominated to win the 100 metres at the Beijing World Championships last month.
“I was excited to be here. I hope to have the chance to come back to compete in this meeting next year.”
There was also success for the Caribbean in the men’s 400 metres courtesy of Trinidadian Reny Quow, and in the men’s 400m hurdles where Bahamian Jeffery Gibson took victory.
The 28-year-old Quow was timed at 45.99, beating Frenchman Mamoudou-Elimane Hanne into second in 46.18 with Teddy Atine-Venel, also of France, finishing third in 46.76.
Gibson, meanwhile, clocked 48.73 to win his event, ahead of Cuban Omar Cisneros in a season-best 49.26 and Rasmus Magi of Estonia in 49.99.
