PARIS — Since qualifying for the Olympics in 2021 only to be barred from competing, American sprinting star Sha’Carri Richardson had waited three years for her second chance at a golden moment.
Instead, Saturday night inside Stade de France, it belonged to Julien Alfred.
Racing in a downpour, Alfred seized the lead from her first strides and was never seriously challenged while winning in 10.72 seconds to earn the first Olympic medal in any sport for Saint Lucia, a country of 180,000.
Richardson was second in 10.87 while Melissa Jefferson, one of Richardson’s two training partners in Clermont, Fla., earned bronze for the U.S. in 10.92.
“I was hoping for a higher place,” Jefferson said. “It was my first games and I was still able to come out with a medal so I can’t complain about that.”
It was a repeat of the semifinal earlier Saturday night when Alfred also beat Richardson convincingly behind a strong start. Richardson was hampered in both races for that reason. She was only two-hundreds of a second slower than Alfred over the final 50 meters, but by then, the gap between her and gold was already too large. After just 10 meters Alfred’s lead over Richardson was already 0.07 — a gulf, in sprinting terms.
The result was a contrast to the previous year, when Richardson earned the title of world champion in the 100-meter in Budapest while Alfred, in her first year as a professional after a decorated NCAA career at Texas, struggled through what she called a “disappointing” debut. She had a tendency to “panic” at the end of her races.
“I think my coach really got me together, and he made me believe that I could be an Olympic champion,” Alfred said.
She woke up Saturday morning in Paris believing she would win, even when many breaks appeared to benefit 24-year-old Richardson.
When Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, a formidable competitor who owned the season’s fifth-fastest time, dropped out of the 100-meter days before the Olympics began, intent on running only the 200, it created opportunity for Richardson. Her time of 10.71 from June’s U.S. Olympic trials stood as the world’s fastest this year by seven-hundredths of a second — and the runner closest to Richardson didn’t even qualify for Paris.
Then, in Saturday evening’s semifinal, Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, a decorated veteran, failed to qualify for the final and, in a stunning move, two-time Olympic 100-meter champion Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce did not start her own semifinal.
A video posted on social media Saturday showed Fraser-Pryce claiming she had been barred from entering the Stade de France through a gate by security. A separate video showed Richardson also unable to enter through the same gate.
In a statement, the Paris Olympics press office confirmed that some athletes who had attempted to access the warm-up track “through the wrong gate” were able to access the venue through a separate gate. Jamaica’s national Olympic committee chief told Reuters that Fraser-Pryce did not run after suffering an injury during warmups.
Fraser-Pryce said in a post on Instagram on Saturday that she was disappointed, and thanked her fans for supporting her. She did not provide any details about why she didn't race.
The combination of Jackson, Fraser-Pryce and Asher-Smith’s absences removed runners who were not only one of the race’s fastest but most experienced, opening the door for a group of first-time Olympians including Richardson, Jefferson, Twanisha Terry (who all train together) and Alfred.
Yet if that seemed to increase Richardson’s title opportunity, her own semifinal — and Alfred's win there — was a reminder it did not guarantee gold.
Alfred's gold medal was a surprise only because since the start of the 2023 season, Richardson had proven not only a uniquely fast talent but a remarkably consistent one, as well.
Richardson did not comment after the final. She has chosen instead to declare her intention in 10-second bursts of speed.
On her way to the 2023 100-meter world championship, she ran five of the year’s 10-fastest times. This year, she owned three of the top eight. It was a remarkable turnaround after an unpredictable two-year stretch that began when Richardson qualified for the 2021 Olympics by winning the U.S. title, only for her ticket to Tokyo nullified by a positive test for THC.
In 2022, she then failed to make even the final of the U.S. championships after running nearly a half-second slower than the year prior.
In Paris, Richardson planned to leave that turbulent period like the seven other racers in the Olympic final — behind her. Instead, it was Alfred who was never seriously challenged on her way to gold, screaming in joy as she crossed the finish line.