Sha’Carri Richardson after winning the women’s 100 meter dash final on Day Two of the 2024 US Olympic Team Track and Field Trials at Hayward Field on June 22, 2024 in Eugene, Oregon .
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Sha’Carri Richardson booked her place at the Paris Olympics, winning the 100 meters final on Saturday at the US track trials in 10.71 seconds, Best time in the world this year.
Richardson began pounding his chest a few steps before crossing the finish line, celebrating a 0.09-second victory over training partner Melissa Jefferson, the 2022 U.S. champion. Another sprinter in camp coach Dennis Mitchell’s team, Twanisha Terry, finished third and also earned a spot on the women’s 100 meter team.
Richardson, whose win at the 2021 Olympic trials was erased because of a positive marijuana test, is the early favorite ahead of Jefferson and is expected to be a stacked field of Jamaica starting August 2 in Paris.
“I feel honored,” Richardson said. “I feel like every chapter I’ve been through in my life has prepared me for this moment.”
Victory in France would put Olympic gold next to the one Richardson won at last year’s world championships, making her the sprinter to watch heading into 2024.
Earlier on Saturday, defending world champion Noah Lyles ran the 100 prelims in 9.92, the fastest time in the first round of men’s qualifying.
Richardson portrayed herself as someone new, better and more put together than the one who lit up Hayward Field in 2021 — her orange hair flowing, looking like the sport’s breakout star .
All that light is hiding her struggle with depression, caused by her mother’s death.
She stayed home for the Olympics, starting to train herself both on and off the track. She won the national championship last year and declared “I’m not back, I’m stronger,” then backed that up a month later with the world title.
