BUDAPEST, Hungary — American Sha’Carri Richardson won the women’s 100-meter world title Monday, outsprinting a star-studded field to take a gold medal two years after a positive marijuana test derailed her Olympic dreams.
Running on the far outside in Lane 9, Richardson finished in 10.65 seconds to match the year’s best time and set the world-championship record.
She beat Jamaicans Shericka Jackson by .07 seconds and five-time champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce by .12.
This was Richardson’s first major competition on the world stage and she was listed as a 5-1 underdog even though she came in as the American champion and bested Jackson the previous two times they met this year.
Though it was clear she had finished ahead of all those runners to her left in the gold-medal race, the 23-year-old Richardson looked stunned when she crossed the line.
She blew a kiss toward the sky, cast her eyes on that beautiful scoreboard and walked toward the stands in a daze to accept the American flag and congratulations from Fraser-Pryce, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and others.
What a comeback story it was — and just in time for the buildup to the Paris Olympics, which start less than 12 months from now.
Richardson appeared ready to become America’s next sprint star when she cruised to a win at Olympic trials two years ago. But that victory quickly came off the books after she tested positive for marijuana — a doping violation she readily admitted, saying she was in a bad place after the recent death of her mom.
A raucous debate ensued over whether marijuana, not a performance enhancer, really belonged on the banned list (it’s still there), and also whether regulators were too keen to go after a young, outspoken, Black, American woman (they said everyone is subject to the same rules).
After a few unsuccessful comeback attempts — she finished an embarrassing last at a much-hyped return a few weeks after the Tokyo Olympics — Richardson started rounding into form. About a year ago, she bared her soul in a live chat on social media, urging people to find their true selves, much the way she had done.
She also found herself on the track, and when the biggest race this side of the Olympics was over Monday night, everyone was looking at her.