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Sha’Carri Richardson is headed to the 2024 Paris Olympics after winning the 100-meter final on June 22.
CNN reports she ran her way to first place at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, officially securing her spot on the US Olympic team.
Not only did your girl win, but the 24-year-old had the fastest 100m time in the world this year—10.71. The track star’s training partners also qualified for the Paris Olympics. Melissa Jefferson and Tanisha Terry finished second and third place.
During Sha’Carri’s semifinal race on Friday, June 21, her start was a little slow and wobbly, but that didn’t stop her from jetting past the other runners. Additionally, she locked in her first-place win with an untied shoelace. Richardson captured a time of 10.86 to qualify for Saturday’s competition.
She told USA TODAY, “This time around, I feel as if it was more — definitely still confident, still my exciting, normal self, but more so the overwhelming feeling of joy.”
She continued stating the win “confirmed the year we’ve been training for. We’ve been preparing for this moment; it’s a full circle moment.”
She shared that she was “grateful and appreciative, and I’m super excited to grow and build from this momentum that we’ve already established. It’s more than exciting to continue to go forward with my girls. We didn’t put the world on notice, the world already knew…We knew this moment could be possible if we put our minds, body and spirit into it.”
Sha’Carri’s win follows a notable year in 2023 when she broke the women’s 100-meter record with a time of 10.65 at the World Athletics Championship in Budapest, Hungary. Additionally, she earned a bronze medal in the 200-meter race and a second gold in the American 4X100 relay.
As previously reported by The Shade Room, she was disqualified in 2021 from the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for marijuana. Sha’Carri’s comeback is definitely one for the record books! Congrats, girl!
