American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson capped her comeback Monday with a gold medal at the world championships in the biggest 100-meter race this side of the Olympics, two years after testing positive for marijuana.
The 23-year-old’s victory, in 10.65 seconds over Jamaican Shericka Jackson and five-time world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, was the culmination of a comeback that was two years in the making and lived up to the mantra she had held for all her life. years – and repeated again after her last victory: ‘I’m not back. I am better.’
Two summers ago, after Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, Richardson’s road to the Tokyo Games was blocked by a positive test for marijuana.
Her name turned into a litmus test in a wide-ranging debate about race, fairness, the often impenetrable anti-doping regulations and, ultimately, about the sometimes razor-thin line between right and wrong.
Richardson said she took it all in, surrounded herself with supporters and tried to drown out the rest. “I would say ‘never give up,'” she said when asked what message this victory sent.
Sha’Carri Richardson won the women’s 100m final at the World Athletics Championships
Richardson won the race after finishing the race 0.07 seconds ahead of the next runner
She posed with silver medalist Shericka Jackson and bronze medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
‘Never allow the media, never allow outsiders, never allow anything other than yourself and your beliefs to define who you are. I would say, “Always fight. Whatever happens, fight.”
For this win, she battled in a field that included four of history’s eight fastest sprinters.
She battled when the vagaries of the track rules placed her in the so-called “Semifinal of Death” along with Jackson and Marie-Josée Ta Lou, who placed fifth and eighth all-time, in a race where only the top two finishers were guaranteed places in the finale.
In that semi-final Richardson had a miserable start and had to go from seventh place to third place in 10.84. Her time was the fastest of all non-qualifiers, so she made it to the final.
Just 70 minutes later, she lined up at the edge of the track in lane 9 for the sprint for the gold medal, a tricky place because there’s no way to feel how the top contenders – or anyone, really – does .
It made no difference. Even though she had the third slowest start in the field, no one got too far ahead. In the end, it was a race between her and Jackson. Jackson crossed and, unable to follow what Richardson was doing on the outside so far, looked up at the scoreboard as if she could have won.
But Richardson beat her by 0.07 seconds, Fraser-Pryce by 0.12 and Ta Lou by 0.16. The 10.65 was a world championship record—Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 35-year-old world record of 10.49 still stands—tying Jackson for the best time in the world this year.
Although Richardson won 2-0 against Jackson in head-to-head matches this year, she was still a 5-1 underdog in the race – in part because she was a rookie on worlds playing against a field that had 38 Olympic and world championship medals between them.
Richardson posed alongside her time holding the American flag after her win
She was on the edge of the track in lane 9 for the gold medal sprint on Monday
The new champion looked stunned as she crossed the finish line. She blew a kiss into the air, glanced at that beautiful scoreboard, and dazedly walked to the stands to receive the American flag and congratulations from Fraser-Pryce, Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, and others.
“All heavy hitters would bring their ‘A’ game, so it also helped me get my best ‘A’ game out,” said Richardson. ‘I stand next to living legends. It feels remarkable.’
Richardson looked poised to be America’s next sprint star when she rode to victory with her orange flowing behind her hair two years ago. But that win quickly came off the books after she tested positive for marijuana — a doping violation she readily admitted, saying she was in a bad place after her mother’s recent death.
A fierce debate ensued – much of it on social media – about whether marijuana, not a performance-enhancing drug, really belonged on the banned list (it still stands), but also whether regulators were too eager to get behind a young man to engage , outspoken, black, American woman (they said everyone is subject to the same rules).
Richardson went down for a while both off the track and on the track. She finished ninth in her much-hyped return from suspension at the 2021 Prefontaine Classic. She failed to make the World Cup squad last year.
“A year ago she was in no man’s land, as far as she didn’t make the team,” said her agent, former hurdler Renaldo Nehemiah.
And then, to come back and finally find her happy place, which is on the track, and not try to compete with any kind of negative influences out there. I personally told her, “You’ll never win that battle on your best day.”
Late last summer, Richardson bared her soul in a social media live chat, urging people to find their true selves, just as she had.
Richardson received congratulations from Fraser-Pryce and Dina Asher-Smith (right)
Richardson – pictured crossing the line, left – beat Jackson in second place by 0.07 seconds
With that message sent, she went to fix things on the track.
But when asked after her biggest win what exactly she fixed, both on and off the track, she didn’t talk about technique, speed or tactics.
“You bring who you are to the track. You bring your athlete into your life,” she said. “Just knowing that people know me not only as an athlete, but also as a person. There is no separate, frankly.
So I’m happy to be able to show who I really am. Not my pain. Not my grief. I’m glad I can sit here and be happy with home, and just know that it’s all paid off.”