Nigeria’s sprint queen, Blessing Okagbare on Sunday in Shanghai lived up to her billing as one of the best female athletes in the 100m sprint when she easily outpaced highly-decorated Jamaican sprinters Fraser-Pryce and Veronica Campbell-Brown in the women’s 100m event. As stated by AFP reports, Okagbare produced a season’s best 10.98 secs, with Campbell-Brown in fourth and Olympic champion Fraser-Pryce in fifth. The result is a blow for Fraser-Pryce in her first 100m of the season, only weeks before she defends her 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay titles in the Chinese capital. “The feeling is OK,” the 28-year-old stated.after the race. “I'm looking forward to my next race. What comes, comes.” Okagbare, who won the 200m and the long jump at the previous year’s meet in Shanghai, was ecstatic at her victory on Sunday. “It is not easy to compete with the best in the world however, I won,” she stated. “Shanghai loves me and the track loves me.” Olympic 400m champion Kirani James stormed to victory at the Shanghai Diamond League on Sunday, James powered across the finishing line on 44.66 secs, well ahead of Americans Tony McQuay in second and world champion LaShawn Merritt in third. It was a dominant performance from James and a psychological boost as he gears up for the World Athletics Championships in Beijing in August, when he would be seeking to reclaim from Merritt the title he won in 2011. -
