PARIS – Dallas native Sha’Carri Richardson is a silver medal winner.
St. Lucia’s Julien Alfred won gold, outrunning Richardson for the second straight race, after beating her in the semifinal earlier in the day.
Alfred, who runs for UT Austin, won St. Lucia’s first-ever Olympic medal.
Richardson ran the 100-meter race in a blistering 10.87 on Saturday to take second place.
Alfred jumped out to a lead out of the blocks and Richardson couldn’t quite close the gap.
USA’s Melissa Jefferson won the bronze.
TeeTee Terry from Team USA also ran in the final, finishing in fifth. It is the first time since 2012 that all US women reached the final.
The win has been a long time coming for the 24-year-old Richardson after she missed her opportunity to race in the Tokyo Olympics.
Richardson won the trials but was kept off the team after testing positive for marijuana.
She later told reporters she used marijuana as a way to cope with the death of her biological mother, which happened just days before the 2021 qualifying.
Then she struggled on the track in 2022.
Richardson failed to make it out of the first round of the U.S. championships.
But Sha’Carri kept working to return to the Olympic stage.
“I did have a moment that could have crushed me beyond measure, but in that moment, I chose better. I chose to be wiser. I chose to allow that moment to build me,” she said.
Richardson won a gold medal in the 100-meter at the 2023 world championships in Budapest.
“I’m not back, I’m better,” Richardson told a crowd at Dallas’ John Kincade Stadium last November.
She ran an outstanding 10.71 in the U.S. qualifiers to earn her spot on the Olympic team.
Richardson entered the Olympics as the favorite to win the gold.
When is Sha’Carri Richardson running again?
PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 03: Sha’Carri Richardson of Team United States competes during the Women’s 100m Semi-Final on day eight of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France on August 03, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Image
The medal is not the end of the games for Richardson.
She is expected to compete in the 4×100-meter relay for the US.
The 4×100-meter relays will begin on Thursday.
Where did Sha’Carri Richardson go to high school?
Richardson ran track at David W. Carter High School, where she was an eight-time state champion, but she attended Kathleen Joy Gilliam Collegiate Academy.
John Kincade Stadium at Carter High School officially named its track after the world champion sprinter last November.
“I see that little girl who stood right here at Kincade. I told my mama I want to be great. I told my godparents I want to be better. I told my family I want to take care of them, and being right here in that moment, able to look back and see that I’m able to do that and more, I don’t want to stop,” Richardson said at the time.
The City of Dallas issued a proclamation on the day of the stadium re-naming that declared November 10, 2023 as Sha’Carri Richardson Day.
