American sprinter, Sha’ Carri Richardson, stunned Jamaicans this afternoon with a scintillating run to win the women’s 100-metre final at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary!
Richardson, running out of lane nine, broke Jamaican hearts when she denied Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce the gold medal.
Jackson finished second in 10-point-72 seconds, with Fraser-Pryce third in 10-point-77 seconds.
We have more in this report from George Davis.
Sha’Carri Richardson stunned Jamaica.
The confident American, in her debut World Championships, blitzed a crack field in 10-point-65 seconds.
Pre race favourite Shericka Jackson was second, just ahead of five time champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
The favoured Jamaicans were chased down and beaten by the 23-year-old Richardson, who ran a personal best and Championship Record inside the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary.
It was also the first time that an American woman has won this event since the late Tori Bowie in 2017.
With this emphatic win, Richardson, whose career was at risk of self implosion, proclaimed her status as a serious contender for gold at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
The taste of redemption must be sweet for Richardson, who was kicked out of the Covid-delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 after a positive marijuana test.
Even before her impressive win in Budapest, the combative sprinter was considered a genuine threat to the dominant Jamaican duo.
In May, she ran 10-point-76 seconds to finish ahead of Jackson and a star-studded field at the Diamond League opener in Doha.
Then on July 6 she delivered the fastest time of the season at the US Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon when she blazed across the line in 10-point-71.
It was her personal best at the time.
Entering the Championships Richardson was listed as a 5-to-1 underdog on the betting exchanges.
However, she emerged victorious in a race that featured four of the eight fastest runners of all time, including Marie-Josée Ta Lou, who finished fourth.
As Richardson approached the finish line, she fist pumped the night sky, cast her eyes towards the scoreboard before the cameras zoomed in on her looking completely shocked.
Like her or not, Sha’Carri Richardson has made track and field history.
In doing so, she left Jamaicans asking, a wha really happen?
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