An exceptional junior, Fraser won six English Schools 200 m titles (as well as a silver medal for the 4 × 100 m at the 1990 World Junior Championships) before turning to the 400 m in 1991 and becoming European Junior Champion at the distance the same year (also gaining a silver medal for the 4 × 100 m). However, she didn't improve until 1996, when she began to concentrate on the 400 m seriously and qualified for British teams in the major outdoor championships between 1996 and 1999. However, it was at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 that she finally showed the potential she had had as a junior, when she clipped almost a second off her PB to finish 4th with a personal best time of 49.79 seconds, thanks in no small part to her training alongside Olympic Champion Cathy Freeman for that season.