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After coming in second in the 100-meter dash, Sha’Carri Richardson had one more shot at winning gold in Paris.
PARIS, France — While Sha’Carri Richardson came up short of being named the World’s Fastest Woman at the 2024 Olympics, she’s still leaving Paris with a gold medal.
Richardson led the U.S. women’s relay team to victory in Friday’s 4×100-meter final and bailed them out of a potential upset loss. Richardson previously earned the silver medal in the 100-meter dash.
Richardson overcame runners from Britain and Germany, to help the U.S. finish in 41.78 seconds, good for a .07-second win over Britain, which struggled with two baton changes in the rain.
Gabby Thomas ran the third leg and got her second gold of the Games, this one going with the 200-meter title. Twanisha Terry and 100 bronze medalist Melissa Jefferson rounded out the team. The exchange between Terry and Thomas that nearly wrecked the Americans in qualifying was better this time.
Still, when Thomas handed off to Richardson, the U.S. was in third.
Richardson had to reel in Daryll Neita (Britain) and Rebekka Haase (Germany), and when she did, she flashed a look to her right — and backward — that said ″you’re not catching me.”
She sprinted eight more steps down the track, and on her ninth, lifted her left leg high and stomped it on the other side of the finish line, then let out a scream.
It marked a sweet close to the Olympics for Richardson, who came into the Olympics as a favorite but surprisingly fell to Julien Alfred of St. Lucia.
The sprinting star also played a key role in the American team just making it into the final.
She saved the American women with her anchor leg in the opening heat after a bad exchange between Thomas and Terry. The U.S. women won that heat, which made them a favorite in the final.
No team came into the qualifying race with a more loaded lineup that the U.S. women, but it all nearly cratered when Thomas took off early on the third leg, then had to slow down to receive the baton from Terry.
Both sprinters appeared to have their hand on the baton as Thomas crossed over the yellow line marking the end of the passing zone, which would make it a legal pass.
Richardson did not earn a spot in the 200-meter race after finishing fourth at the U.S. track trials earlier this summer. That made the 100-meter dash Richardson’s only spot at an individual Olympic medal in Paris.
The 24-year-old was beat by Julien Alfred, who gave Saint Lucia its first ever Olympic medal with her victory. Alfred got off to a fantastic start, then powered through the rain and beat Richardson by .15 seconds — about three body lengths.
It was the biggest margin in the women’s Olympic 100 since 2008.
Meanwhile, the U.S. men extended their drought to 20 years without a medal in the Olympic 4×100 relay, disqualified for an illegal pass after Christian Coleman crashed into teammate Kenny Bednarek while making the exchange between the first and second legs.
Andre De Grasse put a bright mark on an otherwise disappointing Olympics by anchoring Canada to gold in a time of 37.50 seconds. It was the first medal in Paris for De Grasse, but his seventh overall. South Africa finished second and Britain third.
In the men’s race, even without Noah Lyles, who was out of the lineup due to COVID, this looked like America’s race to lose. They have knack for doing just that. The only time the U.S. has captured a medal over the last two decades was in 2012, but that got stripped for a doping violation.
It’s mostly been scenes like this. Coleman first ran into, then passed, Bednarek as they made their awkward exchange.
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