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 had beat Jackson the previous two times they met this year.
Though it was clear she had finished ahead of all those runners to her left, the 23-year-old Richardson looked stunned.
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.
