Reigning World Champion over the 100 metres distance Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will not grace the track on Saturday at the Kip Keino Classic at Kasaranio Stadium after suffering a sudden injury.
She was set to face off with Kenya’s duo of Esther Mbagari and Monica Safania, Hemida Basant of Egypt, America’s pair of Twanisha Terry and Teahna Daniels, Rani Rosius of Belgium and Zoe Hobbs of New Zealand but she unfortunately picked a knee injury on Thursday while in training.
According to Nation Sports, the Jamaican sprinter left the athlete’s hotel in the wee hours of Friday in the company of her coach Reynaldo Walcott and physiotherapist Keneil Brown with the organizers of the event confirming that she was jetting out of the country to seek specialized treatment in Italy.
“It’s unfortunate that my stay in Kenya was too short… I was really looking forward to competing in Nairobi. I’m disappointed and feel so sorry for my Kenyan fans. I look forward to coming back to Kenya again,” Fraser-Pryce said as quoted by Nation.
The meeting Director Barnaba Korir confirmed that the 36-year-old had alerted the organizers of the injury on Thursday, adding that a tight doctor’s schedule saw her depart the country as soon as possible.
“She raised the genuine concern and explained that after aggravating the knee injury, she immediately called her doctor in Milan who could only be available for the emergency treatment on Friday, and that’s why we had to get the next available flight to get her to Milan. This is a huge blow to the meeting, but there’s nothing we could do. Fraser-Pryce explained to us in detail that at 36 years of age, she is not taking any chances with the injury and needed to seek immediate treatment to save her career,” Korir said.
Last year, Fraser clocked 10.67 seconds to victory during the same meeting.
