By Williams Amofokhai
World Champion Sha’Carri Richardson eases to the finishing line to win the Women’s 100m at the Zurich Diamond League on Thursday.
She clocked 10.88 seconds to defeat Jamaica’s Natasha Morrison who placed second while Olympic Champion Elaine Thompson Herrah ran a close third place.
Richardson who recently ran 10.65 seconds to win the Women’s 100m at the World Athletics Championship in Budapest, Hungary, appeared to be lagging behind, but she powered her way to the front to win the race.
Morrison and Thomas-Herah clocked 11.00 seconds each but the former had a little edge.
Richardson rose to fame in 2019 as a freshman at Louisiana State University, running 10.75 seconds to break the 100m collegiate record at the NCAA Division I Championships. This winning time made her one of the ten fastest women in history at 19 years old.
In April 2021, Richardson ran a new personal best of 10.72 seconds, becoming the sixth-fastest woman of all time (at the time) and the fourth-fastest American woman in history.
She qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics after winning the women’s 100-meter dash with 10.86 in the United States Olympic Trials.
On July 1, it was reported that Richardson had tested positive for cannabis use following her 100 m final at the U.S. Trials, invalidating her win and making her ineligible to compete in the 100m at the Olympics.
After successfully completing a counseling program, she accepted a one-month period of ineligibility that began on June 28, 2021.
In July 2023, she became the US national champion in the women’s 100 metres at the 2023 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, running 10.82 seconds.
Richardson won gold in the 100m at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, beating Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in a new championships record time of 10.65 seconds.
The Alarmee reports that on the penultimate day of the 2023 World Championships, she would also go on to win gold as part of Team USA in the women’s 4x100m relay final with a championship record of 41.03 seconds.
