Sha'Carri Richardson fails to qualify for Paris Olympics in 200 meters after finishing in FOURTH place behind winner Gabby Thomas
Sha'Carri Richardson wins a heat women's 200-meter semi-finals on Friday in Eugene
- Richardson will compete in the Paris games in the 4X100 relay and the 100-m
American track star Sha'Carri Richardson will not race in the 200 meters at the Olympics after finishing fourth at US track trials Saturday in a race Gabby Thomas won in 21.81 seconds.
Richardson was in the top three with about 40 meters left but faded down the stretch and finished in 22.16, slower than either of her preliminary rounds. Brittany Brown and NCAA champion McKenzie Long earned the second and third spots.
The 27-year-old Thomas, who gave up running in the 400 meters so she could focus solely on her best race, the 200, will look to add to the bronze medal she won in the event three years ago in Tokyo.
Richardson punched her ticket to the Paris Games last week by winning the women's 100-meter competition in Eugene.
Her blazing 10.71-second sprint will be sending her to the Olympics for the first time. She qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Games -- which were held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic -- but a one-month suspension stemming from a positive THC test prevented her from participating.
'I feel honored,' Richardson said on June 23. 'I feel every chapter I've been through in my life prepared me for this moment.'
Richardson also has a spot on the women's 4x100 relay team.
Despite Saturday's disappointing result, Richardson put on a brave place after her fourth-place finish. At one point she clapped her hands and blew a kiss to the crowd before exiting the tunnel quickly after a race where she was not a favorite - but widely viewed as a top-three candidate.
Unlike Thomas, she ran three rounds last week in the 100. Unlike Thomas, she was also dealing with a warning for a lane violation from Friday's semifinal, meaning if she did it again, she'd be disqualified.
Thomas has never lost to Richardson in a 200. Her biggest challenge in Paris figures to come from Jamaican Shericka Jackson, who ran 21.41 at last year's world championships - the second-fastest time in history. Jackson won her preliminary round at Jamaica's nationals Saturday.
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