Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce matches world’s fastest 100m of 2022

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the 2008 and 2012 Olympic 100m champion, matched her 2022 world-leading time by clocking 10.67 seconds at a Diamond League meet in Paris on Saturday.

Fraser-Pryce consolidated her favorite status for next month’s world championships by equaling the 10.67 she ran on May 7 in her only other 100m race this year. Fraser-Pryce is the only woman to ever break 10.70 seconds before July 1 in any year.

This year, the next fastest woman is reigning Olympic 100m champ Elaine Thompson-Herah, way back at 10.79. Fraser-Pryce and Thompson-Herah could go head-to-head in the 100m and 200m at the Jamaican Championships next week, though Fraser-Pryce has a bye into July’s world championships 100m as defending champion.

Fraser-Pryce took a backseat last year to Thompson-Herah, including a 100m silver at the Olympics. Thompson-Herah has been challenged by injuries this spring and has yet to race against Fraser-Pryce in 2022.

At the last worlds in 2019, Fraser-Pryce became the oldest woman to win an Olympic or world 100m title. At these worlds, she can become the oldest Olympic or world champion in any sprint, flat or hurdles, according to Bill Mallon of Olympedia.org.

Full Paris results are here. The Diamond League takes a break next week as countries like the U.S. and Jamaica hold national championships, the qualifying meets for the world championships next month in Eugene, Oregon.

In other events Saturday, American Valarie Allman outdueled Croatian Sandra Perkovic in a battle between the last two Olympic discus champions. Allman won with a 68.68-meter throw, edging Perkovic by 49 centimeters. On Thursday in Oslo, Perkovic handed Allman her first defeat of the season, though Allman was wearing sneakers and not