EUGENE, Ore. – LSU alumna Sha’Carri Richardson ran her way to gold in the 100 meter on Saturday at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, punching her first ticket to the Paris Olympics in August.
Entering the weekend there had only been one previous LSU Tiger to claim the 100-meter title at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Muna Lee. Lee claimed the title in 2008 with 10.85 (+1.0 m/s) in the final, just a week short of being 16 years to this date.
The reigning World and USA Champion across 100 meters, Sha’Carri Richardson, entered the day having clocked the fastest time of the 100m first round with 10.88 seconds (+0.3 m/s) on Friday. Entering the weekend she held a season-best time of 10.83 seconds, which she clocked at the end of May at the Prefontaine Classic on the same track at Hayward Field.
For the women’s 100-meter group, the day started with the three heats of semifinals.
In those semifinals, Richardson and fellow Tiger Aleia Hobbs were able to make quick work of the fields in their premier events to advance to the final later on in the night. Richardson once again clocked a heat-leading time with 10.86 seconds (+0.4 m/s) in heat one. In heat three Hobbs clocked the fourth-fastest time of the semis with 10.99 seconds (-0.2 m/s) to advance.
Richardson didn’t have the prettiest of starts in the final, which seemed to be a theme throughout the weekend in her races, but it didn’t matter. At the 30-meter mark Richardson had already made up the ground lost from her start and accelerated past the field. She finished with a world-leading time of 10.71 seconds (+0.8 m/s), with the final two Olympic-qualifier spots going 10.80 and 10.89.
Hobbs finished just outside of the Olympic-qualifying bubble in fifth with her time of 10.93 seconds. She will have a chance to go to Paris alongside Richardson as she will take part in the relay camp.
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