The flamboyant Sha’Carrie Richardson strode into countless hearts in just 10.65 seconds by winning the women’s 100m in the World Athletics Championships in the National Athletic Centre in Budapest on Monday night. That her victory came at the expense of Jamaican sprint queens made her redemption more memorable after she spent much time in the wilderness.
Beaten to third place after a sluggish start in the semifinals, she had to endure a nail-biting wait through the third semifinal to be assured of one of the three non-automatic places in the final. As luck would have it, the third semifinal was the slowest and she found herself in the title round, drawn in lane 9, far removed from the Jamaicans Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
Sha’Carrie Richardson did not look at the gift horse in its mouth and blazed the track, delaying her decceleration till after the Jamaicans to earn herself a Championship record with a time of 10.65 seconds. “I’m here. I’m the champion. I told you all. I’m not back, I’m better,” she said, basking in the adulation that came her way.
The Jamaicans were graceful in defeat. For long in that quick race, it seemed that Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce would complete a familiar 1-2 for their country, but the American dynamo charged from behind to get her nose ahead in the final couple of strides, instinctively throwing her arms up in celebration.
Sha’Carrie Richardson missed the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021 owing to a doping sanction and spent much of 2022 away from track. The 23-year-old completed a fairytale comeback, including that nerve-jangling wait in the lounge for the third semifinal before she could make her way back to the warm up track to ready herself for the final.
Hers was not the only come from behind story on Monday. Burkina Faso’s Hugues Fabrice Zango won the men’s Triple Jump gold from a pair of Cubans with a 17.64m effort on his fifth try and the men’s Discus Throw produced a scintillating contest with Swede Daniel Stahl uncorking a massive 71.46m effort to deny Kristjan Ceh (Slovenia) his second straight World title.
Hugues Fabrice Zango opened with a 17.37m effort only to see Lazaro Martinez pinch the lead with 17.41m on his second try. He strove to better that and fouled the second jump. Nor could he get close on his third and fourth attempts. With Jamaica’s Jaydon Hibbert out of the competition with an injury during his first try, Zango worked up the rhythm to nail a 17.64 on his fifth try.
“I am proud that I kept my promised that I would make history tonight. That is the first gold medal in men’s Triple Jump, not only for my country, but also for Africa. I cannot imagine the level of celebration in my country when I go back home. We have some troubles in our country now and it is an incredible mission to bring some positive emotions to them,” Zango said.
Hardly had the cheers for Hugues Fabrice Zango died, the crowd was treated to a stirring display of nerveless Discus Throwing first by the reigning champion Kristjan Ceh who became the first man to pass the 70m mark on Monday and then by Olympic Champion Daniel Stahl who threw the Discus over 71.46m on his sixth and final attempt to regain the title he won in 2019.
“I had so much focus, I would say 1000 per cent on the last throw after I saw Kristjan throw 70.02m. I said ‘I’m not going to give up and will try to go hard as possible’. I tried to execute the most powerful move, but also enjoy it. It was an amazing final and I’m really proud of the record. After the throw I had the chance to let my emotions out. I’m a two-time world champion and I couldn’t be happier,” he said.
Grant Holloway (United States) did not let anything come in the way of his completing a hat-trick of 110m Hurdles gold medals, the 12.96 seconds being the fastest of his title victories. “I managed to put everyone else into office mode, to put them on defence. I knew they were going to close really quickly, so my main goal was to keep smooth to the line,” he said.
From her seat in the stands, India’s teenaged long jumper Shaili Singh watched the proceedings with deep interest, soaking in as many critical lessons as were possible in a sensational evening that saw two World Championships records being rewritten and three fine never-say-die efforts that led to gold medals being won in dramatic fashion and a hat-trick of gold for a redoubtable hurdler.
Yet, the Indian presence was not confined to the terraces during Monday programme. Javelin Throwers Kishore Kumar Jena, his visa issues sorted, and DP Manu trained in different locations while the genial Neeraj Chopra’s arrival in Budapest on Tuesday in pursuit of his second successive World Championships medal pumped up the Indian team.
After completing his training workout for the day beside the warm up track, Manu expressed the belief that the three Indians in the fray would back one another up and deliver an impressive performance despite none of their team-mates advancing from the preliminaries. “I am looking forward to playing alongside Neeraj bhai for the first time outside India,” he said.
All the amazing talk of Indian Javelin Throw is happening only because of Neeraj bhai. There are four or five Indians now who are throwing over 84m. Four of us would been here but for Rohit Yadav’s injury,” Manu said, taking pride in the fact that Neeraj Chopra, Kishore Kumar Jena and he would be competing at the same time.
“Once Neeraj bhai won the Olympic Games gold and has consistently thrown over 85m, we have become confident that we can emulate him. That mark seems possible, and we may even see multiple Indians on the Olympic podium,” he said, quickly drawing himself back to the World Athletics Championships.
“I felt good during training, and I intend to enjoy my throwing in the competition. I do not want to think too much about the outcome. I am sure if I play the qualification round without inhibition, the outcome would naturally be the best,” the 23-year-old said, getting ready to send a video recording of his training session to his coach.
The results (finals):
Men
110m Hurdles: 1. Grant Holloway (United States of America) 12.96 seconds; 2. Hansle Parchment (Jamaica) 11.07; 3. Daniel Roberts (United States of America) 13.09.
Triple Jump: 1. Hugues Fabrice Zango (Burkina Faso) 17.64m; 2. Lazaro Martinez (Cuba) 17.41; 3. Cristian Napoles (Cuba) 17.40.
Discus Throw: 1. Daniel Stahl (Sweden) 71.46 (New Championship Record. Old: 71.13, Kristjan Ceh (Slovenia), Eugene, 2022); 2. Kristjan Ceh (Slovenia) 70.02; 3. Mykolas Alekna (Lithuania) 68.85.
Women
100m: 1. Sha’Carri Richardson (United States of America) 10.65 (New Championship Record. Old: 10.67, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Eugene, 2022); 2. Shericka Jacskon (Jamaica) 10.72; 3. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Jamaica) 10.77.
