“Don’t play with me! shouted Sha’Carri Richardson as she crossed the finishing line to win her 100 meters semi-final heat in a wind-aided 10.64 seconds (2.6m/s) at the 2021 US Olympic trials here at Hayward Field in Eugene, on Saturday (19).
In a statement performance from one of the fastest women of all time, Richardson recovered from a slow start to cover the field midway through the race before starting her celebrations with about 20 meters remaining. The performance equaled No. 8 all-time in any conditions.
After covering the field inside the first 80m, the 21-year-old opened her arms and pointed at the clock as she eased across the line comfortably ahead of her competition and clearly has a lot more left in the tank.
Daniels also secured a place in the final after she took second place behind Richardson with a time of 10.84, while Jenna Prandini ran10.96 for third and Kayla White grabbed a spot in the final as well with 10.98.
In the meantime, there was drama in the second semi-final heat after a tearful Aleia Hobbs was thrown out of the race for a false start.
Hobbs entered the US Olympic trials as one of the top sprinters in the world this season and was hoping to make her first Olympic team.
However, she was left in tears sitting with her head in her lap in the corner behind the starters.
Javianne Oliver went on the win the heat at the second time of asking in 10.83s (2.5m/s). Gabby Thomas who initially thought that she would have been the one disqualified from the race after she had left the blocks, recovered from another slow start to take second place in 10.95 with English Gardner taking third in 10.96.
NCAA double sprint champion Cambrea Sturgis of North Carolina A&T could only managed a fifth place finish in semi-final one with 11.05 and did not advance.
The other collegiate athletes, Twanisha Terry who represented USC recently, ran 11.04 and Maia McCoy of Tennessee clocked 11.16 in their semis.
They also didn’t advance.
