At the last two global showdowns in track and field, the United States left little room for doubt. In Budapest in 2023, Noah Lyles swept the men’s 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay, while Sha’Carri Richardson claimed the women’s 100m and contributed to the 4x100m relay triumph. The following year at the Paris Olympics, the Americans extended their dominance with 34 medals on the track, leaving Jamaica to watch from the sidelines. Jamaica’s powerhouse names were not present in full strength. Elaine Thompson-Herah was sidelined with an injury. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce opted out. Shericka Jackson, after a promising start, withdrew from the 200m with physical setbacks. The victories were real, but the contest was incomplete.

Now, as the 2025 World Championships approach, the dynamic has shifted. Jamaica’s women return with depth and experience, and the atmosphere feels different from the previous cycle. At the Jamaican trials, Tina Clayton broke through in the 100m with a time of 10.81, while Fraser-Pryce and Jackson followed closely in 10.88 and 10.91. For the United States, Richardson has yet to rediscover her Budapest form. Her only 100m podium performance this season, at the Brussels DL, ended in a second-place finish at 11.08 seconds, well off the 10.65 she scored to defeat the Jamaicans (Pryce: 10.72 and Shericka Jackson: 10.77) two summers ago. Right now, the gap seems evident.

Despite the wave of American medals in recent years, one achievement has eluded their female sprinters that only Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has achieved so far. “She was the 1st and remains the ONLY woman to complete the sprint TRIPLE in World Athletics Championships history!” shared a track enthusiast on X (@TrackGazette).

At Moscow in 2013, she won the 100m in 10.71 (also a world record), the 200m in 22.17, and anchored the 4x100m in 41.29 (championship record for the team). The record has stood untouched for more than a decade. No American woman has matched it. Since 1983, the year the first World Track Championship was organized, 42 years have passed. And no athlete could beat this record of Mommy Rocket!

Talking about Moscow, this is how the results look other than Fraser-Pryce:

This singular distinction places Fraser-Pryce apart from her contemporaries. Richardson may have announced herself as a global champion in 2023, but she has not yet produced a campaign that bears comparison with Moscow. Nor has Gabby Thomas, who found gold in Paris, but within a field where the Jamaicans were absent or diminished. In this context, the American sweep of medals has not delivered the same level of individual accomplishment that Fraser-Pryce achieved in one unforgettable week twelve years ago.

The upcoming championship, therefore, presents more than a renewal of rivalry. It is a measure of whether the United States can finally claim the missing honor on their side of the ledger. Jamaica enters with experienced champions and promising youth, while the United States faces uncertainty over Richardson’s readiness. Until an American sprinter can deliver the rare triple, Fraser-Pryce’s record continues to define the standard. History, for now, still belongs to Jamaica.

Now, while Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce would be looking forward to adding another feather to her crown, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden’s dominant 2025 season has positioned her as the leading American contender to challenge Jamaica’s sprinting stronghold at the World Championships.

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden emerges as the USA’s strongest threat to Jamaica’s sprint supremacy

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden’s ascent across the 2025 season has positioned her as the American sprinter most capable of unsettling Jamaica’s long-standing dominance at the World Championships. Where others have struggled to consistently pierce the island’s tradition of sprinting supremacy, Jefferson-Wooden has fashioned a campaign defined by control, precision, and repeatable excellence. Victories across the Grand Slam Track circuit and Diamond League stages have not merely added to her resume. They have confirmed that her success in Paris was not an isolated breakthrough, but the foundation for a broader claim to authority on the global stage.

At the USA Track and Field Championships, her performance delivered the most compelling evidence yet. By running 10.65 seconds, she became the joint-fifth fastest woman in history. It was not simply the time that reverberated across the sport but the manner in which she managed the rounds and outpaced her peers with unhurried efficiency.

The triumph in the 200 metres that followed, in which she set a personal best of 21.84 seconds against Gabby Thomas, strengthened the impression of an athlete not just surviving on form, but steadily mastering the spectrum of sprint competition. These achievements have placed her in rare company, and they ensure that her name is no longer secondary in discussions of American sprinting power.

The athlete herself has noted how her confidence has grown through these results. “Sky is the limit now… We’re just going to keep working towards bigger and better things,” she remarked after winning the USATF 100m title. That self-assurance, coupled with her competitive record, suggests that she may be the United States’ most realistic answer to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at the coming World Championships.

In Jefferson-Wooden, the conversation has shifted from potential to presence, and the expectation now rests on whether she can convert national dominance into the decisive challenge Jamaica has so often withstood.