Sha’Carri sprints onto US Olympic team after winning 100 in 10.71

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Sha’Carri Richardson earned her spot in the Paris Olympics, winning the 100-metre final Saturday at U.S. track trials in 10.71 seconds, the best time in the world this year.

Richardson started pounding her chest a few steps before she crossed the finish line, celebrating a .09-second win over training partner Melissa Jefferson (10.80), the 2022 U.S. champion. Another sprinter in coach Dennis Mitchell’s camp, Twanisha Terry, finished third with a time of 10.89 and also earned a spot on the women’s 100-metre team.

Richardson, whose win at the 2021 Olympic trials was erased because of a positive test for marijuana, is the early favourite against Jefferson and what’s expected to be a stacked field of Jamaicans beginning Aug. 2 in Paris.

“I feel honoured,” Richardson said. “I feel every chapter I’ve been through in my life prepared me for this moment.”

A win in France would place an Olympic gold next to the gold medal Richardson won at the world championships last year, which made her the sprinter to watch heading into 2024.

Earlier on Saturday, reigning world champion Noah Lyles ran his 100 preliminary heat in 9.92, the fastest time in the first round of men’s qualifying.

Richardson has portrayed herself as a new, better and more in-tune person than the one who lit up this same Hayward Field back in 2021 — her orange hair flowing, looking like this sport’s breakout star.

All that flash was hiding her battle with depression, brought on by the death of her mom.

She stayed home for the Olympics, started working on herself both on and off the track. She won the national championship last year and declared “I’m not back, I’m better,” then backed that up a month later with the world title.