Anthony Foster, Gleaner Writer

SHERONE SIMPSON and Shelly-Ann Fraser's relatively poor times at the DN Galan meet in Stockholm, Sweden on Tuesday were expected, according to their coach Stephen Francis.

Fraser finished fifth in the women's 100m in 11.20 seconds while Simpson was seventh in 11.25 seconds, but Francis had expected such performances.

"There is going to be a period over the summer where they are going to be very, very loaded with a lot of work," he said at a breakfast hosted by The Gleaner with MVP/UTech on July 1.

Olympic focus

At the National Championships, Fraser was second in a life-time best 10.85, while Simpson was third in 10.87 seconds.

"We cannot expect that kind of performances all the time," Francis said at the meeting.

He made it clear that the Olympic Games, which will have its track and field segment between August 15-24, is the target.

"We are going to set down the base for them to have a good August," he said. "By the time we get to the Olympics, there are going to be some serious fireworks in that 100m."

Brigitte Foster-Hylton also had a bad meet on Tuesday, but she is also at a similar stage of preparation.

But come Beijing, Francis said: "If you cannot run 13.3, then you are not certain to beat her (Foster-Hylton)."

Asafa Powell, despite being a part of the same group, had a good day on Tuesday. He ran 9.88 seconds to beat world 100m record holder Usain Bolt (9.89).

Looking for fast tracks

Francis said: "The meets they are going to be running are not meets that usually see great sprint times. We go around the place looking for fast tracks to run on, but, like Asafa has shown, he runs fast on any track, even the ones people think are the slowest."

Also, Nesta Carter's first sub-10 timing was predicted by Francis at the start of the month.

"I expect Nesta is going to be a 9.90s runner, pretty, pretty soon," he said.