Sha’Carri Richardson Wins World 100-Meter Title, Makes History
Sha’Carri Richardson won the World 100-Meter title for the USATF team, becoming a world champion. On Monday night (Aug. 21), Richardson, 23, snagged a personal best of 10.65 during the World Athletics championships at Budapest, Hungary’s National Athletics Centre. Carri’s victory gives America its first women’s 100-meter win since Tori Bowie in 2017.
With the win, she now qualifies for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Richardson’s win is also a historic upset for Jamaica, whose sprinter, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, won the title in 2022. The outspoken athlete spoke about her accomplishment after the race, asserting she would stay focused.
“I’m honored, I’m blessed, I had great competition, [which] pulled the best out of me, and I’m just honored to leave with a gold medal,” she said. “I’m going to stay humble… I’m not back. I’m better, and I’ll continue to be better.”
Her agent, Renaldo Nehemiah, also offered some words on the Dallas native. “She was more than capable of running 10.65. We knew that,” Nehemiah said. “We just knew that running it on the biggest stage in the world is a lot harder than just saying it.”
Sha’Carri Richardson has won the 100M Final: pic.twitter.com/5QzcOVjQw3
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 21, 2023
“I’m just so proud of her, because a year ago we were light-years away from a full package of being able to compete at this level, and she’s put in the work,” he added.
In 2022, the Texas star failed to qualify for the World Championship. But since the new year, Richardson has been on a tear. July 2023 saw the athlete run 10.71 seconds to open up the United States Championships 100m dash. The world-leading record punched her ticket to Budapest’s World-100 Meter event.
Richardson’s 10.71 second time placed her .25 seconds faster than Brittany Brown, who came in second place. Her record-breaking time also positioned her ahead of Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou, who clocked a 10.75 at Oslo’s Diamond League in June.
2021 saw the American sprinter become a national sensation, qualifying for the Tokyo Games. However, after being suspended for testing positive for THC, she would miss the Tokyo race. With that controversy behind her, Sha’Carri is looking to take it all the way this time, and she wants to bring her authentic self to the track, regardless of the world’s opinion.
“It felt amazing just knowing that not only [do] people see me as an athlete but as a person,” she said. “I want people to see that it goes beyond [being an] athlete; you bring who you are onto the track. You bring your athlete into your life.”
Sha’Carri Richardson:
1: Fastest time of her life ?
2: World championship record ??
3: World Champion???
pic.twitter.com/rQWfMZLGVi— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) August 21, 2023
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