Sha’Carri Richardson is running at record speeds.
The 23-year-old Louisiana State University athlete dominated the 100-meter sprint while competing at the 2023 Miramar Invitational on Saturday, taking home her first solo victory of the track and field season. According to USA Today, Richardson raised her arms in celebration as she finished in 10.57 seconds, which equals a legal-wind time of 10.77 seconds.
Richardson’s time ranks third among all-time 100-meter finishes. Florence Griffith-Joyner set the record with a 10.49 in 1988, while Elaine Thompson-Herah ran a 10.54 in 2021.
The Dallas native competed in her first race of the 2023 season last weekend at the Texas Relays in Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas, where her team finished second in the Women’s 4×100 Invitational.
Richardson failed a drug test in the summer of 2021 during the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon, which annulled her victory (a 10.86-second run) in the 100-meter dash. She tested positive for THC, a chemical found in cannabis. The sprinter claimed she smoked marijuana, which the World Anti-Doping Agency says is a prohibited substance for athletes, for her mental health as she tried to cope with the death of her biological mother a week before her qualifying race for the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.
She missed the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics (held in 2021) and wasn’t selected to represent the United States during last summer’s World Athletics Championships held in Eugene, Oregon.
Nevertheless, Richardson’s most recent triumph adds to a momentous few weeks for Louisiana State University sports.
Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey guided the LSU Tigers to a record offensive performance as standout player Angel Reese and her teammates defeated Caitlin Clark and Iowa State University 102-85 on April 2, and won the first national championship title, men’s or women’s, in school history.
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