Olympic 100 metres champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce eased to victory on a damp evening at the Shanghai Diamond League meeting yesterday while world champion Carmelita Jeter was stretchered off the track after finishing third.
As low clouds settled around the stadium for the evening meet, the Jamaican sprinter pulled away from her American rival to clock 10.93 seconds, the fastest time of the year.
“I just came out to execute a good race, and I think I did that,” Fraser-Pryce told reporters.
“I’m just looking forward to the rest of the season. I pray to God that if I can continue to stay healthy, that is key at this moment because it’s a long season.”
Jeter, who needed treatment for a leg injury, told stadium officials that it was too early to know the extent of her injury.
In the men’s 400 metres, London gold medallist Kirani James eased away from American rival Lashawn Merritt down the home straight.
“It was good, I had Lashawn in front of me. And so he really set the pace and it kind of prepared me to put on a good performance,” said the Grenadian sprinter.
It was the first time the two rivals have met since Merritt was forced to pull out of last year’s London Olympics.
“It’s my first 400 and I’ve got a lot more training to put in. I’ve been training hard, came out and ran a healthy race,” said Merritt.
“Is he unbeatable? Not at all. Everybody’s beatable. Next race I’ll come more prepared and we’ll go at it again.”
Chinese sprint hope Zhang Peimeng broke the national 200 metres record just weeks after he ran China’s fastest 100 metres, but failed to trouble the leaders as Olympic bronze medalist Warren Weir pipped rival Justin Gatlin.
“It’s not a surprise for me to break the national record since I have already proved myself in the 100. I feel I still have room to improve and I can do better next time,” Zhang said.
Russian world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva won the women’s pole vault with a mark of 4.70, before falling short on two attempts to reach 4.85.
“There’s no point in just jumping 10 centimetres higher,” she said.
“I was confident if there was no pain then I could jump higher than 4.85.”