Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn expressed her dissatisfaction with the absence of certain 100-meter sprinters at the USATF Los Angeles Grand Prix on Saturday (27), throwing shade at them. Sha’Carri Richardson, Aleia Hobbs, and Marie-Josee Ta Lou, who had all shown promising performances in the heats, disappointingly failed to participate in the final event at the UCLA Drake Stadium, leaving fans in disbelief.
Track and field enthusiasts were eagerly anticipating a showdown among the trio, who has been in top form this season, and had each achieved sub-11-second times in the heats and appeared to have conserved energy for the final.
During the pre-race formalities and lane assignments, Richardson received the loudest cheer from the crowd, who were unaware of her absence.
However, the final race proceeded with a few empty lanes and a late addition after Richardson, Hobbs, and Ta Lou surprisingly withdrew from the event. Consequently, Morolake Akinosun of the USA claimed victory with a time of 10.97 seconds.
During her interview after an impressive 12.30-second world-leading performance in the women’s 100m hurdles at the same meet, Camacho-Quinn seemingly questioned the motives of some top sprinters at major competitions. – Read more: Sha’Carri Richardson pulls out of LA Grand Prix final
She remarked, “In hurdles, we don’t duck each other.”
The Puerto Rican athlete emphasized the practice of lining up and facing competitors when it’s time to race, implying that she expected the same from her fellow sprinters.
“We actually line up when it’s time so I knew who I was up against,” added Camacho-Quinn, who went up against the current and former world record holders as well global medal winners in the 100m hurdles.
“I didn’t see the lineup until Thursday, it didn’t bother me,” Camacho-Quinn told Yahoo Sports. “There’s no ducking over here, we line up.”
“I just feel like we deserve more props, to be honest. You see the field that we had today. This isn’t even Diamond League and we’re lining up. We know we’re going to push each other,” the new world leader added.
Reports indicated that Richardson experienced cramps, but no immediate explanations were provided for the withdrawals of Hobbs and Ta Lou.
Later, Ta Lou tweeted that she too pulled out with cramps, while apologizing to fans.
“Unfortunately I was cramping on my calf just before the final. My team and I didn’t want to take a risk. Sorry for the fan who come to watch me run today,” she wrote.
It was only when Akinosun crossed the finish line to secure the victory that fans realized the race they had paid to see never took place.
“That’s extremely disappointing,” commented Ato Boldon, a track and field analyst for NBC Sports Group. “Most of the people here came to see Sha’Carri Richardson.”
Prior to the event, several stars, including world champions Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Athing Mu, and Michael Norman, had already withdrawn from the meet.
