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Sha’Carri Richardson earned her biggest win since the Tokyo Olympic Trials and the most prestigious international race victory of her career at the Diamond League season opener in Doha on Friday.
Sha’Carri Richardson dominates in Doha
Last year, she was eliminated in the 100m first round at nationals and now Richardson has won the 100m in 10.76 seconds in dominating fashion, the world’s best time this year, according to NBC Sports.
She defeated a field that included the last two world 200m champions — Jamaican Shericka Jackson and Brit Dina Asher-Smith, who were second and third.
“I found my peace back on the track, and I’m not letting anything or anybody take that anymore,” she said, adding that she got “kicked out” of the 100m at her last meet in Botswana last Saturday, where she ran the 200m instead.
Richardson also prevailed over most of the rest of the top Americans, including 2022 U.S. champion Melissa Jefferson and TeeTee Terry, who anchored the U.S. to the 2022 World 4x100m relay title. She is the only U.S. woman to break 10.80 seconds since the start of 2017, and she has done it five times.
“I feel like I ain’t done, and I’m the queen,” Richardson said.
That bodes very well for Richardson’s chances at July’s USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships, where the top three in the 100m are in line to qualify for August’s world championships in Budapest (plus more for the relay).
Richardson came into Doha in good form, having run a wind-aided 10.57 on April 8, the fourth-fastest all-conditions 100m in history, according to NBC Sports. She has yet to compete in a global championship.
In 2019, Richardson entered nationals ranked No. 1 in the nation in the 100m. She placed eighth after an exhausting NCAA season at LSU.
In 2021, she won the Olympic Trials but had that result disqualified after testing positive for marijuana, which is banned in competition but not out of competition.
Last year, Richardson made headlines after pointing out the racial “difference” between how a Russian figure skater was treated after being busted in a doping scandal and how she was treated.
“Can we get a solid answer on the difference of her situation and mines?” Richardson tweeted during the Winter Olympic Games in February 2022. “My mother died and I can’t run and was also favored to place top 3. The only difference I see is I’m a Black young lady.”
Unapologetically Black, Richardson credits her newfound success to her mental wellbeing, saying, “I’m so blessed and thankful, I feel at peace.”
“Y’all say I’m back,” Richardson said before Doha. “I’m not back. I’m better.”