Reigning 100-meter world champion Sha’Carri Richardson will make her Olympic debut this summer in Paris.
The 24-year-old American sprinter finished first with a time of 10.71 seconds in the 100-meter race finals Saturday night to qualify for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
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Sha’Carri Richardson runs the fastest 100m in the world this year to qualify for the #ParisOlympics! pic.twitter.com/ke9xz7EZ7H
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Sha’Carri Richardson has qualified for her first Olympic Games! #TrackFieldTrials24 pic.twitter.com/T7zu5iDTOn
Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha Terry also punched their tickets to Paris by finishing second and third, respectively.
Richardson got off to a strong start at the Olympic trials at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, on Friday when she led the field of 34 sprinters with a 10.88-second opening race.
The opening race win was particularly notable given that she was forced to recover from a stumble at the block and ran the final 20 meters with an untied shoe.
She followed that race with a semifinal time of 10.86 secondsto earn a place in the final.
The Olympic trials follow up a historic year for Richardson, who clocked a time of 10.65 in Budapest, Hungary, last August to mark the fastest 100-meter sprint ever recorded at the World Athletics Championships.
That race also tied for the fifth-fastest of all time, 0.16 seconds behind the world record of 10.49 set by American sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988.
Richardson then earned silver in the 200-meter race behind Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson before anchoring the American 4×100 relay on her way to another Worlds gold.
Richardson, who ran one season at Louisiana State before turning professional in 2019, will now represent Team USA at the Paris Games.
This will be the first Olympic appearance for Richardson, who missed out on the 2020 Tokyo Games despite winning the 100-meter trials race following a positive test for THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.
She will be considered a favorite contender for a gold medal when the 100-meter race takes place in France.
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