Coach Reportedly Pulled Fraser-Pryce From Jamaica 4×1

NASSAU, Bahamas (Sporting Alert) — Olympic champion Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce was supposed to lead Jamaica’s women 4x100m relay team at the IAAF World Relays 2015.

That didn’t happen, as the star sprinter failed the show and questions were being asked.

Fraser-Pryce was expected to join the likes of veteran sprinters Veronica Campbell-Brown and Kerron Stewart for the women’s short sprint relay after skipping the 4x200m.

However, the large group at the Thomas Robinson Stadium in the Bahamas were left disappointed at not being able to see the 28-year-old, who, according to reports, was pulled from the line up by her coach, Stephen Francis.

Now Maurice Wilson, Technical Leader of the Jamaican team, although happy to be able to form a winning quartet, is still trying to make sense of the situation.

“That particular situation is something that is left to be resolved and I am happy that we were able to have a team to represent the country,” Wilson said in the Jamaica Gleaner.

“Whatever the situation is, we will fix it for the future.”

He added: “I personally think there was some miscommunication and that is something that will have to be resolved.”

The Jamaica Gleaner is also reporting the reason why Fraser-Pryce was pulled from the IAAF World Relays 2015 relay setup.

According to the newspaper source: “Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce wanted to run.

“She was basically pulled by her coach because she wasn’t picked to run in the heat and he wanted her to.”

In the absence of Fraser-Pryce, the team of Simone Facey, Stewart, Schillonie Calvert and Campbell-Brown, who ran past American Carmelita Jeter at the 50m mark on the anchor leg, raced home in a world-leading 42.14 seconds to secure the gold medal.

Finishing second was USA in 42.32, with Great Britain and N.I. taking the bronze medal in 42.84.

Canada was fourth after finishing one hundredth of a second behind Britain, with Trinidad and Tobago (42.88), running without Kelly Ann Baptist, Brazil (42.92) and Nigeria (42.99), also dipping under the 43 seconds barrier in the final.

Meanwhile, world record holder Usain Bolt, who anchored Jamaica to silver in the men’s 4x100m, didn’t show for the 4x200m final because of a sore hamstring.

The multi-Olympic gold medallist was looking forward to racing on Sunday and was even seen warming up during the preliminaries.

However, it is understood that the 28-year-old had a tight hamstring and the Jamaican coaching staff didn’t want to risk running him.

Jamaica still managed to strike gold though, as the team of Nickel Ashmeade, Jason Livermore, Rasheed Dwyer and Bolt’s training mate Warren Weir clocked 1:20.97 after the Americans was disqualified for dropping the baton and passing out of the exchange zone.

France took second in 1:21.49, while Germany recorded 1:22.65 for third place.