Sha’Carri Richardson Destroyed Elaine Thompson-Herah at Diamond League, but Unearthed Fact Might Paint a Different Paris Olympics Story

After failing to conquer the field in two 200m races, Sha’Carri Richardson left her rivals in dust at the Prefontaine Classic. In her first 100m contest this season she achieved victory in a stacked field that included defending Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah. While Richardson clocked an impressive 10.83s, Herah finished ninth in a disappointing 11.30 seconds.

This does paint a gloomy picture for Herah, who is hoping for more gold in Paris following her heroics in Tokyo and Rio. This win also establishes Richardson’s dominance as the 100 m world champion and gives her immense confidence for Paris. But do not count Herah out yet. Why? The X-handle, Track Spice disclosed a stunning stat of the Olympic champion, which shows the Jamaican may yet add to her Olympic gold tally.

It shows that in 2021, Herah had almost a similar start in the Velocity Fest. In that 100m contest, she took 11.21 seconds to finish the race, earning her the first rank. Hence, her timing at Prefontaine Classic might not be too much of a worry, given what she achieved in 2021.

She won both 100m and 200m Olympic golds in Tokyo. Furthermore, Elaine decimated Sha’Carri Richardson later in the year, in Prefontaine Classic 2021- the memorable contest that earned her the tag, ‘the fastest woman alive’. Herah finished first with a time of 10.54s while Richardson ended up in a disappointing last place.

This doesn’t mean the result won’t be a major boost to Richardson’s hopes of gold in Paris. The 2023 World Champion missed out on the Games in Tokyo due to a suspension over anti-doping rule violation and such will motivated to complete her comeback with a top of the podium finish in Paris.

Still, Saturday’s result may not paint an accurate picture of what might happen at Paris Olympics. In fact, if Elaine Thompson-Herah’s season-opening timings (since 2015) are taken into consideration, she may not stand anywhere close to her monumental achievements on track. 

In the last two Olympics (2016 and 2021) Elaine has bagged 6 Olympic medals, including her double-double. She won two golds in Rio in the 100m and 200m race and repeated the feat in Tokyo while adding 4×100 m relay gold as well.

Surprisingly, in 2016 as well, her season debut 100m contest took 11. 07 seconds to be completed. However, the only point that may work against the 31-year-old is this time she has started late compared to her previous seasons and she might not have more meets before going to the Olympic trials. But her mindset gives a different approach. 

Elaine Thompson-Herah backs her chances in the Paris Olympic season 

After facing the defeat from Sha’Carri Richardson on Saturday, Elaine Thompson-Herah did not let her calmness slip. Instead, she counted the her season debut as “the first step in the journey of a thousand mile”. Remember, this is her journey toward making it to the triple-double, the rarest achievement in track and field. In this endeavor, the former world champion is not looking back where she has left her experiences with chronic injury and problematic coaching. 

In the meantime, she is cherishing her new schedule under Reynaldo Walcott with another legend, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the 10-time world champion. Getting benefitted from such training, she has hardly cared about external constraints. Such a free attitude has led her to say, “For me, the mindset is I have to be strong and have to be positive. Push out those negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones. It’s all about getting my workout done each day. Once that is done, I pray to Christ and I’m happy. The key that I walk with every day is believing in myself.” Meanwhile, Elaine Thompson-Herah is trying to keep herself from another injury. 

Last year she missed the chance to appear in the 100m event in the Budapest World Athletics championships – the same contest that adorned Sha’Carri Richardson with the global champion title. But she did her thing later in Prefontaine Classic 2023, where she finished ahead of SCR. But will such records add to Elaine Thompson-Herah’s chance of repeating her 2021- success this season, despite missing Saturday’s podium? Comment your take.