Sha’Carri Richardson’s 100m World Championship crown is under threat in 2025. Her season began with a fourth-place finish in Tokyo, clocking 11.47 seconds—her slowest since 2021. Prefontaine Classic saw her finishing last. At the US Championships, she ran only one 100m round, finishing second in her heat, showing flashes but not dominance.
Meanwhile, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden has surged ahead, posting a world-leading 10.65 seconds, emerging as a serious contender. Richardson, facing recent setbacks including injury and legal issues, might not focus on the gold in Tokyo, but her eyes will be there to have the silver or the bronze on her neck. Anything other than that, it’s going to be a fallout in Tokyo. These three things can help her with that –
“Every time Sha’Carri Richardson runs, it is a situation,” said Coach Rob in one of his YouTube Videos streamed on August 15th. And no debates there, every time the 2023 world champion has stepped foot on the track, there has always been a special light on her – how is her start? How is she running? What is she doing around the curves, what time did she clock, and whatnot?
Further in the video, he added, “We have a lot of evidence this year that Sha’Carri Richardson is likely not going to be on the podium. But if you’re still putting her there, you’re doing it because of what we’ve seen in history.” This brings us to point one- how she plans her rounds until finals. In the 2023 World Championships, she had clocked a time of 10.92 seconds, slow for her standard, yet she won. In the semifinal, she was third with 10.84 on the clock. She walked out of the championship after clocking the fastest time of that season in the finals.
The track pundit added, “The truth is with a Sha’Carri Richardson 100-meter dash race, you really don’t know what you’re looking at until you get to about the 50-meter mark because about that moment is when she starts to put a move on.” Point 2, if she is ahead after the 50m, she is going to win. If she is not, beware, she is coming. Examples are countless. Richardson had the slowest start in the Olympic finals, with a reaction time of 0.221 seconds. What happened next?
Sport Bilder des Tages Diamond League Finale – Weltklasse Zuerich 08.09.2022 Sha Carri RICHARDSON USA, 100 m Diamond League Finale – Weltklasse Zuerich, Switzerland, on Thursday, 8. September 2022 *** Diamond League Final World Class Zuerich 08 09 2022 Sha Carri RICHARDSON USA, 100 m Diamond League Final World Class Zuerich, Switzerland, on Thursday, September 8, 2022 Copyright: xBEAUTIFULxSPORTS/TobiasxLacknerx
She trailed the pack for the first 40m, crossing 10m in 2.03s and 40m in 5.14s. Beginning at the 50m mark, she accelerated, covering 10m in 0.93s to move into 4th, tied with Melissa Jefferson, then ran the next 10m in 0.94s, reaching 2nd place by 60m. The woman who started the slowest in that race was the second-best. The third point? The unexpected factor.
Let’s be honest, nobody would bet their money on Richardson given her current form. Rarely is anyone counting her for the win in the world, but so did anyone in 2023. Before the race, even though the Olympian had run impressively that season, winning the national title in 10.82 seconds, she wasn’t seen as a top contender on the world stage. Why?
The competition was fierce, with experienced champions like Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce chasing a sixth world title and Shericka Jackson leading the world rankings at 10.65 seconds. There are still two Diamond League meets and the finals to go for her before Tokyo. She has come back once before; maybe Lausanne can be the 50m mark.
Sha’Carri Richardson Has Come Back in the Past, but Is It Too Late Now?
Richardson has come back before. At the start of the 2024 Diamond League season, she appeared to be struggling. She ran 22.99 seconds for second place in Xiamen and 23.11 seconds for third in Shanghai, respectable times but far below her usual standard. Then at the semi-finals of the 2024 US Trials, she made a powerful statement of her return by winning the 200m in a season-best 21.92 seconds. with no other sprinter breaking 22 seconds.
And by this, she had already clocked a season-best 10.71 seconds in the finals of the Trials, narrowly beating Melissa Jefferson by nine hundredths. She had roared, announcing that she is coming back. Now for sure this was the 200m but it shows she had it in her mind and her legs to set back the setbacks and give her evrything on the track. The only thing is time.
There are only weeks to go before the Tokyo World Championships start, and Sha’Carri Richardson has three big races at best before she begins the fight for her position in the finals of the 100m World Championships. Can she do it?
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