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The career of Frankie Fredericks reached its zenith in 1996, when he
set his career bests of 9.86sec in the 100m, and 19.68sec in the 200m,
as well as setting a world indoor record of 19.92sec over 200m.
However, although the times started to slow after that, Fredericks
showed in 1997, as he entered his 30th year, that there was still plenty
of speed left in his ageing legs. During 1997, Fredericks produced a
record nine legal sub-10sec performances over 100m in the one season,
improving his own record of seven set the previous year.
At the World
Championships in Athens, Frankie continued his unlucky string of
finishes in the 100m when he finished fourth in 9.95sec. Between 1991
and 1997, Frankie competed in all four 100m finals at the World
Championships, finishing no lower than sixth place on each occasion, but
never winning a medal. His fortunes were a lot better in the 200m
final on 8 August, where Frankie finished second (see photo above, No. 802)
behind Ato Boldon (Trinidad & Tobago) in 20.23sec.
At the
Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in September 1998, he won the silver
medal behind Boldon in the 100m in 9.96sec. Only four days earlier, he
had been at the World Cup in Johannesburg, where he won the 200m in
19.97sec, his fastest time of the year. Fredericks' last major victory
was at the 1999 World Indoor Championships in Maebashi, where he won the
200m in 20.10sec. Later that year, at the World Championships in
Seville, he qualified for both the semi-finals of the 100m and the final
of the 200m, but withdrew from both due to injury.
His 2000 and 2001
seasons were also severely restricted due to injury, preventing him from
competing at the 2000 Olympic Games and the 2001 World Championships. (Ron Casey)
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