After a less than ideal 2024 season for Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson, Jamaican-born Olympic and World Championship gold medallist Donovan Bailey says he’s optimistic that the Jamaican sprint duo will challenge for medals at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, this September.

Fraser-Pryce and Jackson struggled with injuries last year, which saw both being unable to vie for medals at the Paris Olympic Games last summer. However, the pair have returned to competition since the start of the year ahead of a lengthy athletics calendar.

Thirty-eight-year-old sprint legend Fraser-Pryce, in her first race since the heats of the 100m in Paris last August, clocked a wind-aided 10.94 seconds at the Velocity Fest meet at the National Stadium on April 19.

It was the earliest start to the season for the five-time 100m world champion since 2021 and the first time in two years where her season started more than two months before a major championship.

The three-time Olympic gold medallist, who played down retirement talk to the Jamaica Observer, is also set to compete at the World Relays in China next week, after being named in Jamaica’s 4x100m squad.

Former world record holder Bailey, who won the 100m Olympic gold in 1996 and took the 100m world title in 1995 while representing Canada, says he’s impressed by Fraser-Pryce’s start to the season and is expecting great things.

“The excitement and energy of inviting probably the greatest female sprinter ever back to the track and healthy, that’s way more important. The fact that she went out, raced, executed and ran sub-11, that’s all good. I don’t care what the wind was, that doesn’t matter to me,” he said.

“The fact she went out and executed simply means that if this is her last season as a track and field athlete, it means that there’s zero chance in hell that she’s just going to go out and not challenge for a medal so this is great. I’m glad that she’s back on the track, opening up in front of her home audience, injury free from what I understand because I spoke to a bunch of sources so I’m happy to see her back,” Bailey added.

Two-time 200m champion Jackson, whose 2024 season ended at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial meet in Hungary last July, opened her season in January in the 60m at the Queen’s/Grace Jackson Invitational Meet at the National Stadium where she clocked 7.18 seconds.

Since then, Jackson has gone on to compete in four more races, including last Saturday’s Diamond League in Xiamen, China where she ran her first 200m race of the season, clocking 22.79 seconds to finish second behind America’s Anavia Battle 22.41 seconds. It’s the slowest time in her 200m opener since February 2021 where she also clocked 22.79 at the GC Foster College.

Despite Jackson not winning the event, Bailey says he’s not bothered and believes she should use these races as opportunities to prepare for the World Championships.

“From my personal career, the Diamond League is the business part of track and field. You come out, get a great appearance and if you lose one or two, it doesn’t really matter at the end of the season. I think that every single one of these ladies or the men competing, should always use the Diamond League to fix things.

“So [whether] Shericka wins or loses is not going to make a difference to me or make a difference in her season. The number one thing is executing right and remaining healthy. I want to see her at her best in the finals at the World Championships at the end of the season, that’s what I personally what I want to see,” said Bailey.

As the reigning champion, Jackson has a bye for the 200m at this year’s World Championships but will have to compete in the 100m, along with Fraser-Pryce, at the National Senior Championships in July.

Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (right) hands off the baton to teammate Shericka Jackson in the final of the women’s 4x100m relay during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on August 6, 2021. (Photo: AFP)