BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - AUGUST 24: Sha'Carri Richardson of Team United States looks on ahead of the Women's 200m Semi-Final during day six of the World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023 at National Athletics Centre on August 24, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images for World Athletics)
Once more, Sha’Carri Richardson fell short at the world finals. Expectations were sky high for the US sprint queen in Brussels at the Diamond League Final, after she got her revenge at the Paris Olympics after defeating Julian Alfred in the women’s 100m race in the Zurich Diamond League. Supporters expected Richardson to make another lightning-fast run to increase her advantage over the Olympic winner to 2-1. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned, and in 10.88, Julian Alfred won the Diamond League championship.
More than Alfred’s victory over Richardson, though, was the American’s performance in Brussels, which took the track and field community by surprise. Richardson failed to even place on the podium! The Olympic silver medallist really had one of his worst races during the Brussels Diamond League finals. She managed a timing of 11.23 seconds to finish eighth.
Soon after her dismal performance, the floodgates opened for criticism once again. An unfortunate trend seems to accompany Sha’Carri Richardson in big tournaments where she is touted as the favorite. These included the Prefontaine Classics 2021, USAs 22, Paris Olympics 2024, and the latest, Brussels 2024.
Back in 2021, the entire track and field world was ready for the emergence of a new US sprinting powerhouse in Sha’Carri Richardson. Despite stiff competition from her Jamaican counterparts, Richardson was expected to bring home an emphatic victory. But what transpired was quite tragic. While Richardson not only lost the race, she ended up in the ninth position with a time of 11.14s. Next up, at the USA track and field championships in 2022 too, Richardson failed to make a mark.
However, it was post-2022 that the US sprinter had some significant success that once again made her a prominent force coming into the Paris Olympics. But once again, the weight of expectations seemed too heavy on Richardson’s shoulders. Running for gold, Richardson’s slow start allowed Julian Alfred ample time to head home and become the first female Olympic gold medalist from St. Lucia. Well, while Brussels was surely a black spot in Richardson’s shining career, there were ominous signs early on that the race might go haywire for the Olympic silver medalist.
