Olympics: Sha'Carri Richardson helps US women advance to 4x100m final
PARIS, FRANCE - AUGUST 08: Shacarri Richardson of Team United States competes in the Womens 4 x 100m Relay Round 1 on day thirteen of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France on August 08, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty I
PARIS - Dallas native Sha'Carri Richardson moved one step closer to her first Olympic gold medal on Thursday.
Richardson, who won the silver medal in the 100m, ran the anchor leg of the 4x100m semifinal.
The United States finished first in their heat, finishing the race in 41.94 seconds. It was the fastest time for any team in the qualifying round.
The team consists of Richardson, Gabby Thomas, Twanisha Terry and 100m bronze medal winner Melissa Jefferson.
The women's 4x100m final will be held on Friday around 12:30 p.m.
Sha'Carri Richardson's Road to the Olympics
The Paris Olympics have been a long time coming for the 24-year-old Richardson after she missed her opportunity to race in the Tokyo Olympics.
Richardson won the trials but was kept off the team after testing positive for marijuana.
She later told reporters she used marijuana as a way to cope with the death of her biological mother, which happened just days before the 2021 qualifying.
Then she struggled on the track in 2022.
Richardson failed to make it out of the first round of the U.S. championships.
But Sha'Carri kept working to return to the Olympic stage.
"I did have a moment that could have crushed me beyond measure, but in that moment, I chose better. I chose to be wiser. I chose to allow that moment to build me," she said.
Richardson won a gold medal in the 100-meter at the 2023 world championships in Budapest.
"I'm not back, I'm better," Richardson told a crowd at Dallas' John Kincade Stadium last November.
She ran an outstanding 10.71 in the U.S. qualifiers to earn her spot on the Olympic team.
Richardson entered the Olympics as the favorite to win the gold in the 100m, but came in second to Saint Lucia's Julien Alfred.
Where did Sha'Carri Richardson go to high school?
Richardson ran track at David W. Carter High School, where she was an eight-time state champion, but she attended Kathleen Joy Gilliam Collegiate Academy.
John Kincade Stadium at Carter High School officially named its track after the world champion sprinter last November.
"I see that little girl who stood right here at Kincade. I told my mama I want to be great. I told my godparents I want to be better. I told my family I want to take care of them, and being right here in that moment, able to look back and see that I’m able to do that and more, I don't want to stop," Richardson said at the time.
The City of Dallas issued a proclamation on the day of the stadium re-naming that declared November 10, 2023 as Sha'Carri Richardson Day.