Sha’Carri Richardson.
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Sha’Carri Richardson will not race in the 200 metres at the Olympics after finishing fourth at the US Olympic trials Saturday in a race Gabby Thomas won in 21.81 seconds.
Richardson was in the top three with about 40 metres 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 metres 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 will have the 100, where she is the reigning world champion, and a spot on the women’s 4×100 relay team.
Richardson clapped her hands and blew a kiss to the crowd before exiting the tunnel quickly after a race where she was not a favourite 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 the Jamaica Olympic trials on Saturday.
