What not to do at the finish line
They both lifted their arms to celebrate before the finish line.
For Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the 100 metres, this was no big deal. There was so much daylight between Fraser-Pryce and the runner-up, the Jamaican could have walked the last few steps and still taken gold.
For Molly Huddle in 10,000, a different story. While slowing down and raising her hands, she had no idea her American teammate, Emily Infeld, was sprinting behind her. Infeld caught up, shouldered her way past Huddle and crossed the line in front of her to capture the bronze. These two scenes, played out 30 minutes apart at the Bird’s Nest, served as Monday night’s lessons in how to, and how not to, finish a race with a medal on the line at world championships.
Fraser-Pryce now has three of them in the 100 — all gold — making her the first woman to win that many in the 32-year history of the championships. They’ll go great with her green-coloured hair lined with sunflowers, to say nothing of her two Olympics golds, the first of which came at this same stadium seven years ago.
The 28-year-old Fraser-Pryce is contemporaries with her country’s superstar, Usain Bolt. In some ways, she’s also equals with Bolt, who also has three career 100-metre golds at the worlds and two at the Olympics.
“Usain ran 9.7. I ran 10.7,” said Fraser-Pryce, whose time of 10.76 was good for a .05-second margin over Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands. “It’s not about upstaging anyone.”