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Sha’Carri Richardson posted a message before returning to the track on Saturday.
“August 21” He wrote next to a video he shared on Instagram this week, “and I’m not playing well.”
The message was clear: weeks after a positive drug test It cost him his Olympic dreamRichardson was ready to run again, both on video and in real life. Saturday’s return to competition at the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore, didn’t go as planned.
Overlooking an included area three Olympic medals In the 100m run, Richardson was badly beaten and finished last with 11.14 seconds. That was more than half a second behind Tokyo gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica.
Thompson-Herah’s countryman Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce finished second, and Shericka Jackson finished third, multiplying the podium at the Tokyo Olympics. Running on the Lane 4 spot reserved for the favourite, Richardson was out of contention after just a few steps.
In an interview shortly after he finished, Richardson reassured after a rather depressing performance.
“One Race” said. “I’m not ready. You know what I’m capable of.”
Richardson’s return to competition comes a little over two months after he won the 100m at the US Olympic Track and Field Trials, which many thought would be the first action in a summer star return. Richardson was an instant sensation—his explosive speed matched by his wavy orange hair and baggy air.
But he never ran in Tokyo: Richardson later tested positive. marijuana and was disqualified.
Richardson said she used the drug to deal with the death of her biological mother, whom she learned in June. But the consequences were dire: the breach wiped out its win in lawsuits and took him out of qualification for the Tokyo Games. He also received a 30-day suspension from the competition.
Therefore, there was speculation USA Athletics, the sport’s governing body in the United States, could try to get him to the Olympics by including him on the 4x100m relay team. This race was scheduled near the end of the Tokyo meet after Richardson’s suspension was complete.
But because he was disqualified, the rules did not allow for substitutions, and Richardson’s manager Renaldo Nehemiah said his team had not lobbied US track officials to find a way to include him.
“We never petitioned to be in office,” Nehemiah wrote in an email in early July.
In an interview last month, Nehemiah said she needed a break from the overheated spotlight created by Richardson’s suspension after his drug breach. His fame only increased in his absence from the Games.
Nehemiah said she and Richardson decided almost immediately to aim for Saturday’s Prefontaine Classic for her next competition, which takes place at the same track she won at the trials.
In an effort to expand his focus beyond the Tokyo Games he would miss, Richardson wrote in a tweet about bringing his attention to major competitions over the next three years, which include the world championships in 2022 and 2023 and the Paris Olympics. 2024.
The march towards these events began in earnest on Saturday. However, his performance on the track did not match his speech.
“They’re not done seeing me yet,” Richardson said of his rivals and those who certainly doubted him. “Period.”
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