Jamaican female sprint icon Shelly-Ann-Pryce has shown her admiration and appreciation for the Kenyan hospitality she was showered and has promised his fans of making a comeback before she retires.
Fraser-Pryce, who won women’s 100m at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, said while she is not getting younger, she hopes to run in Kenya again soon.
“I’m grateful for the welcome I have received here and the crowd was amazing.
I promised a good race and winning here gives me a lot of confidence for the season,” she said.
“Kenya is a place I’d love to compete again given an opportunity, while I won’t be running as often, I will not pass an opportunity to race here again,” the 10-time world champion said.
Pryce who is a three-time Olympic champion now wants to run cautiously this year as she strategies on the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
“I won’t be able to do as much as I did last year. Age is catching up and I am no longer the spring chicken I was to be running all over.
I will be strategic and think long term, especially the next Olympics,” Pryce said.
On Saturday, she delivered the signature performance of the 2022 Kip Keino Classic Continental Tour meeting when she scorched to an incredible 10.67 victory in the opening 100m of the season in Nairobi.
“To come here and run a fast time in front of all these cheering people is great,” she said with delight.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta joined thousands of fans who created a cracking atmosphere at the Kasarani Stadium during the third edition of Africa’s only Gold Label Continental Tour meeting.
On an afternoon littered with world-leading, personal and seasonal bests from an international cast of top track and field athletes.
Fraser-Pryce, 35, delivered one of the most enduring performances in her first race on African soil.
In the men’s 100m race homeboy Ferdinand Omanyala posted the fastest men’s 100m in the world this year with a time of 9.85 seconds as he delivered a showstopping end to this year’s Kip Keino Classic.
Omanyala, who ran 9.77 seconds here last year when he finished second behind Trayvon Bromell, found a great start off the blocks and never ceded his advantage in what turned into a duel with Kerley.
The top four men all ran season bests with Kerley finishing second in 9.92 while Isaiah Young (10.13) and Hendricho Bruintjies (10.13) were third and fourth, respectively.