Bronze medalist at the World Championships in Budapest last summer in 21”92 (0.1 m/s), her record, Sha’Carri Richardson strolled during the 200m heats of the American Olympic selections this Thursday. She dominated her series in 21”99 (0.5 m/s) by cutting off her effort well before the line.
On Thursday, the Texan had relegated far away the memory of her 2024 return with two 200m borrowed in 22”99 and 23”11 in China at the end of April.
Brilliant winner of the 100m selections on Saturday, Richardson is now the favorite in the 200m and will simply have to finish among the first three (half Friday, final Saturday) to compete in the distance at the Paris Olympic Games (July 26 – August 11).
World vice-champion Gabby Thomas also easily qualified for the semi-finals in 22”11 (0.1 m/s).
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Lyles, Holloway and Allman in great shape
Triple world champion (100, 200 and 4×100 m) last summer in Hungary and also brilliant winner of the 100 m last week, Noah Lyles strolled through the first round of the 200 m in 20”10. Erriyon Knighton (20”15), Kenny Bednarek (20”28) and Christian Coleman (20”30) also reached the semi-finals without trembling.
In other results from the day in Eugene, three-time world champion in the 110m hurdles Grant Holloway was the fastest in the semi-finals in 12.96 seconds (0.3 m/s). Olympic champion in the 400m hurdles Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was a solid performer in the heats (53.07 seconds), as was Olympic runner-up Rai Benjamin (49.56 seconds) in the men’s event.
Winner in Tokyo in 2021, Valarie Allman won the discus final with a throw of 70.73 m, the 3rd best performance in the world this year. Valerie Constien won the 3,000m steeplechase (9’03”22).
