In just 10.65 seconds, Sha'Carri Richardson sprinted 100 meters to a gold medal finish, earning the title of world's fastest woman at her first-ever World Athletics Championships on Monday.
The 23-year-old American track star arrived in Budapest, Hungary, to compete in both the women's 100-meter and 200-meter races, and set a new world championship record and her own personal best time in the debut event.
10.65 championship record 😱
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 21, 2023
Sha'Carri Richardson is your 100m world champion 🌟#WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/pD6dJSPMID
Her triumphant run in outside lane 9 bested four of the eight fastest sprinters in the sport's history, including Jamaica's Shericka Jackson, who finished in second place with a time of 10.72 seconds, and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who finished in third place with a time of 10.77 seconds.
The competition was a long time coming for Richardson, who was stripped of her national title and Tokyo Olympics berth in 2021 after testing positive for THC -- a substance found in marijuana -- failing to make it to the 2022 world competition.
"This journey for me, from since I first came on the professional level [in 2019] to now, is just knowing that no matter what happens, you never lose sight of yourself," she told reporters after her win Monday. "Never lose sight of your faith. Always remember why you started."
The moment Sha'Carri Richardson became the fastest woman in the world ✨ #WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/IkfltVsenT
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) August 21, 2023
1. Since 2019, Richardson has raced to nine first-place finishes in the women's 100-meter.
2. Richardson and Noah Lyles are the first American pair to sweep in the women's and men's 100-meter races at worlds since 2017.
3. She made history in her first year of college at LSU, setting two U20 records on the same day in 2019, which was a first for women's sprints: a sub 10.8 seconds in the 100-meter and a sub 22 in the 200-meter.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
