Track and field star Sha’Carri Richardson is back and faster than ever, cruising her way into record-breaking territory again. At the 2023 Miramar Invitational on Saturday, the 23-year-old blasted through the 100-meter sprint to victory with 10.57 seconds and 10.77 seconds with wind time.
Marking the fourth-fastest 100-meter finish in all-time conditions, Richardson couldn’t help but wave her arms up in victorious celebration as she crossed those final few meters. This is the 2024 Olympic hopeful’s first individual win of the season, although her entrance back into track took place at the Texas Relays, where her relay team won second place.
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What a stunning run from Sha'Carri Richardson who lays down a huge marker in April with a time of 10.57 (4.1m/s) to win the Miramar Invitational 🔥🇺🇸
That converts to 10.77 with a legal wind 💥#WorldContinentalTour pic.twitter.com/7rSUZBH94i
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) April 8, 2023
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The NCAA title winner turned pro after her 2019 collegiate season. Richardson was a fan favorite and had all the makings of the next great Olympic sprinter. It all came crashing down when she was embroiled in a marijuana scandal ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
At the U.S. Olympic trials, her 100-meter win was negated, and she was given a one-month suspension for testing positive for marijuana use. Richardson justified her use of the drug, prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, as she grieved the death of her biological mother. Nonetheless, the star athlete was effectively ruled out of competing in the Tokyo Olympics, then failed to qualify for the United States to compete in the 2022 World Athletics Championships.
Richardson’s removal from the USA Olympic Team caused quite a stir in the sports world, elevating the debate that racism played a role in how she was perceived in the public arena.
“That entire situation taught me to look into myself and to see that I have to be grounded because do you see how fast they flip?” she told Teen Vogue about how Black women are treated in sports. “It almost seems like we have to be superheroes.”
Twitter: “Angel Reese better watch out before she ends up like Sha’Carri Richardson…”
Sha’Carri Richardson: https://t.co/G7ispxvHdF
— GNCordova (@GNCordova) April 8, 2023
The key feature of this conversation continues to be about race, as a white athlete was allowed to compete at the 2022 Winter Olympics following a failed drug test, spurring Richardson to become a vocal critic of the International Olympic Committee.
Despite media attention that has ranged from praise to condemnation, it seems Richardson is on a mission to prove her haters wrong again. With U.S. trials set for next February and the 2024 Paris Olympics looming on the horizon, Richardson can bask in the success of a historic start as she runs confidently into the new season.
