EUGENE, Ore. — Sha’Carri Richardson wobbled out of the starting block and raced with her right shoe untied but still won her preliminary 100-meter heat in 10.88 seconds Friday to open her quest for the Olympics at the U.S. track trials.
The 24-year-old sprinter and former Carter star, whose victory three years ago at trials was erased because of a positive test for marijuana, stumbled to her right at the start and was briefly in last place. She overcame that mistake quickly to not only overcome the field but finish with the best time of the night’s four opening-round heats.
She’s back on the track Saturday for the semifinals, and if she finishes in the top two in that race, she’ll go for the title. The top three finishers in the final will head to Paris for the Olympics where Richardson would try to add that title to the world championship she won last year.
Incredible race by Sha'Carri Richardson! 😱 #TrackFieldTrials24 pic.twitter.com/UHdKfVwHgV
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) June 22, 2024
“I definitely didn’t have the start I’ve been training to have in this moment,” she said in a post-race interview with NBC. “But I’m still not panicking. I’m staying patient and knowing no matter what’s going on to continue to run my race.”
This race was no masterpiece, but it didn’t need to be. Even with the stumble, she was only .02 seconds off the time that won trials three years ago on the same track.
“That tells me I’m prepared,” she said. “I just need to put it all together.”
Things went sideways shortly after her victory in 2021, when her marijuana positive was revealed, after which she disclosed she had been battling with depression in the wake of her mother’s recent death and other issues.
Ever since, she has been on a long comeback that she looks at a different way — “I’m not back, I’m better.” And, by almost every count — especially the ones the public can chart on the track — she is.
She came into trials as the reigning world champion, and also with a victory on this track last month in the Prefontaine Classic. She is the early favorite to win the Olympics in what is always a stacked field filled with Jamaicans.
Asked how she’s enjoying her rising fortunes, she said “I’m enjoying the recognition of hard work, the support that comes with it.”
“The fact that the world can see so much work I’ve done on myself, for myself, and the world receives that, I’m appreciative and I will always show up for my fans,” she said.
Joining Richardson in the women’s 100-meter semifinals will be Kennedy Blackmon, a former 400-meter state champion at Plano who ran in college at Oklahoma. Blackmon had the 13th-best qualifying time Friday at 11.07.
Nine-time state champion Jasmine Moore from Mansfield Lake Ridge, who competed in the women’s triple jump at the Olympics in 2021, advanced to Saturday’s final in the event with the top qualifying mark of a wind-aided 14.03 meters (46 feet, 0.50 inches). Moore, who turned pro in 2023 after winning seven NCAA championships in the triple jump and long jump at Florida, is the American record holder in the triple jump with a mark of 15.12 meters (49-7.25) from the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2023.
Joining her in the triple jump final will be Georgia signee Skylynn Townsend, who just graduated from Prosper Rock Hill High School this spring and was 10th in qualifying Friday with a wind-legal mark of 13.12 meters (43-0.50). Townsend won back-to-back Class 6A state titles in the triple jump and long jump, and she won the triple jump at the recent USATF Under-20 Championships in Eugene with the second-best wind-legal jump in state history — 44-2.50.
It was a successful day for Dallas-area athletes in the first round of qualifying in the 400 meters, as five runners advanced to the semifinals.
Former Frisco Heritage state champion Bailey Lear, who ran in college at USC, finished second in her heat and had the ninth-best overall qualifying time at 51.12 to lead four D-FW women into the semifinals. Rosey Effiong from DeSoto, who helped Arkansas break the collegiate record in the 4x400 relay while winning the NCAA title this outdoor season, had the 12th-best qualifying time at 51.21.
After breaking the state record in the 400 by running 51.17 as a high school senior in 2023, Lauren Lewis from Prosper — now an All-American at Texas — advanced Friday with a time of 51.73. Also moving on to the semifinals was former Carrollton Newman Smith and UT star Courtney Okolo, who ran 51.79. Okolo won a gold medal as part of the U.S. 4x400 relay team at the 2016 Olympics.
On the men’s side, former Wylie star Logan Popelka — now at Texas — finished third in his heat in 45.22 to advance to the semifinals in the 400. He ranked 10th out of the 27 runners who made the semifinals.
Staff writer Greg Riddle contributed to this story.
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