Sha’Carri Richardson is back with a vengeance, shining bright like a diamond as she left rivals in the dust at the Diamond League in Doha, Qatar. The 23-year-old is again one of the fastest women in the world, earning her most significant win since the Tokyo Olympic Trials and the most prestigious international race victory of her career on Friday.

The breeze did not affect Sha’Carri Richardson’s fiery 10.76-second sprint in the women’s 100 meters race — the fastest wind-legal time for a woman so far this year — beating a field that included world 200 m champions Jamaican Shericka Jackson and Brit Dina Asher-Smith, who claimed second and third.

Richardson also prevailed over Americans Melissa Jefferson, the 2022 U.S. champion, and TeeTee Terry, who anchored the U.S. World 4x100m relay title in 2022. The Texas native is the only U.S. woman to break 10.80 seconds since the start of 2017, which she has done five times since.

Richardson also broke the meet record held by her late compatriot Tori Bowie, the 32-year-old Mississippi native who died last week.

“I’m so blessed and thankful, I feel at peace,” Richardson told reporters after the race, according to the Diamond League.

“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 100 m at her Bostwana meet on April 29, where she ran the 200 m instead.

In 2019, Richardson entered nationals ranked No. 1 in the nation in the 100m. Despite winning the Olympic Trials in 2021, she notoriously had that result disqualified when she was discovered to have tested positive for marijuana, a banned substance according to the World Anti-Doping Agency. Then, last year, she was eliminated in the first round of the 100 m sprint at nationals.

Needless to say, Sha’Carri Richardson had been through it.

“I feel like I ain’t done,” she said then.

She’s certainly taken the opportunity to prove haters wrong with a great run so far this year. With Texas Relay, then Miramar Invitational, and now the Diamond League in Doha, her rise has been meteoric.

Two years later, it would seem Richardson has bounced back. “Y’all say I’m back,” Richardson even acknowledged in a video posted to Instagram before Doha.

“I’m not back. I’m better,” she clarified.

The Diamond League, a series of 14 track and field meets, is hosted mainly across Europe. The first Diamond League meet of the season was on Friday. From there, the next meeting is in Rabat, Morocco, on May 28.

The 2024 Paris Olympics are a little more than a year away, but even now, we will likely see Richardson claim glory there. Before that happens, however, she has the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in July. For the 100 meters, the top three sprinters chosen will qualify for the world championships in Budapest, Hungary, come August.

Congratulations to Sha’Carri Richardson on her historic win! We can’t wait to see her run circles around her opponents later this month.

2024 olympicsBlavity-UBlavity-U-NewsMelissa JeffersonSha'Carri-RichardsonTeeTee TerryTokyo-OlympicsTori BowieTrack-and-fieldUS Track and Field