Cravont Charleston on Friday surged past 2019 world champion Christian Coleman to win the men’s 100m at the USATF Outdoor Championships, as Sha’Carri Richardson won the women’s 100m to book her long anticipated World Athletics Championships berth.
The 25-year-old Charleston, who had never made it to the 100m final at a US championships before, clocked 9.95 seconds to edge Coleman by one one-hundredth of a second with reigning 200m world champion Noah Lyles placing third in 10 seconds.
“Just keep running. That’s what I tried to do,” Charleston said of his mindset as he trailed early in the race.
Photo: AFP
The trio are to join reigning world champion Fred Kerley in the event at the world championships in Budapest in August, trying to repeat the US sweep at last year’s worlds in Eugene.
Meanwhile Richardson is set to spearhead the US women’s 100m challenge after booking her first world championships berth with an emotional victory in 10.82 seconds.
She had set a personal best of 10.71 seconds in Thursday’s heats, which stood as the top time in the world this year for a day until Shericka Jackson’s 10.65-second win at the Jamaican championships on Friday.
Richardson was the picture of determination on the start line. A slow start left her some work to do, but she pulled away late to leave Brittany Brown second with a time of 10.90 seconds with Tamari Davis third in 10.99 seconds.
“I’m ready mentally, physically and emotionally, and I’m here to stay,” Richardson told broadcaster NBC after she had climbed into the stands to embrace a number of people.
The win was a vindication of sorts for Richardson, who was infamously barred from the COVID-19-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 after testing positive for marijuana. She then saw her hopes of competing for a medal at last year’s world championships vanish when she bombed out of the US trials.
“I’m not back. I’m better,” Richardson said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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