Photos: Wikimedia Commons
When she stamped her name on the long, illustrious list of American sprint champions earlier this summer, Sha’Carri Richardson also set the stakes for the year ahead of her and the rest of the fast pack of 100-metre runners she’s going against.
“I’m not back. I’m better,” she declared.
Whether that is good enough to win gold medals starting this week at the world championships, then again less than 12 months from now at the Paris Olympics, comes down to whether she can finish in front of defending and five-time world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and the Jamaican’s teammate, Shericka Jackson.
Jackson has the world’s best time this year (10.65 seconds), but has lost to Richardson in their only two head-to-head matchups in 2023. Fraser-Pryce is trying to match pole vaulter Sergey Bubka’s record for world titles in one individual event.
Also in the mix is Marie-Josée Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast, who joins Richardson and Jackson as the three women to crack 10.8 this year.
