NEW YORK —— Sha’Carri Richardson says she feels “phenomenal” and intends to do the 100m and 200m double at the 2022 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships later this month, hence her reason for racing in both disciplines at the USATF New York Grand Prix 2022 on Sunday (12).
After a slightly delayed start to her campaign, Richardson has hit the ground with some fast times again, including her season-best of 10.85 seconds (+1.3 m/s) over the 100m on Randalls Island this weekend.
The 22-year-old finished second to American compatriot Aleia Hobbs (10.83 PB) in the straightaway sprint before returning later to secure the top spot in the 200m with a time of 22.38 seconds (+1.7 m/s). Read more: Watch video: Aleia Hobbs runs 10.83, beats Sha’Carri Richardson, 10.85 in New York
She indicated subsequently that she plans to compete in both sprint events at the U.S. Championships and needed a qualifying time to be accepted into the field, seeing that she hadn’t contest the event leading up to this weekend.
Richardson initially wasn’t supposed to be in the 200m, but received a lane after Olympic bronze medalist Gabby Thomas withdrew from the meeting on Saturday disclosing that she “did something funny to my leg” in training.
Sha’Carri Richardson says “I wanted to put a time out there”
“I want to double up at nationals,” Richardson told reporters during her post-race interview on Sunday. “I just wanted to complete the race, execute the best that I could and see what that got me.”
She added about the 200m performance in the mix zone: “It was an amazing race. I actually last minute got into the race because I want to double at nationals and didn’t have a time so I was like I need to put a time out there so definitely I wanted to just complete the race.”
So far this season, Richardson has posted just one other sub-11 seconds wind legal time of 10.92 seconds which she did when finishing second to Jamaica’s back-to-back Olympic sprint double champion Elaine Thompson-Herah at the Prefontaine Classic 2022 last month.
However, the world’s sixth-fastest woman of all-time has also shown that she’s got a lot of speed in her legs after posting wind-assisted times of 10.82 (+3.5 m/s) and 10.73 (+4.3 m/s) at a meeting in Florida, earlier this month.
“I feel phenomenal,” Richardson said following the 100m performance at Icahn Stadium.
READ MORE: Sha’Carri Richardson at the double, McLaughlin in ONLY the 400m at USATF New York Grand Prix
Richardson is expected to have her hands full at the U.S. Championships, with the likes of Thomas, Hobbs, Brittany Brown, and TeeTee Terry, plus a strong list of collegiate athletes, headed by Abby Steiner, Melissa Jefferson, and Anavia Battle, all set to line up in the sprints.
The 2022 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships to select the rest of the team to this year’s World Athletics Championships 2022 in July, will be held from 23-26, June at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
The global championships will also be held at the same venue from 15-24 July.
