Beneath the Paris rain, Sha’Carri Richardson’s slow start costs her Olympic gold

SAINT-DENIS, France — The first clue that it might not be a world champion’s kind of night came when Sha’Carri Richardson couldn’t even get in the stadium.

Then she couldn’t get out of the blocks.

Beneath drizzly skies and on a glistening track Saturday, another slow start doomed Richardson’s gold-medal hopes in the 100-meter finals at Stade de France, requiring a majestic recovery from the Dallas native just to win silver in her Olympic debut.

Dead last 10 meters into the race and caught in traffic halfway home, she mounted a charge reminiscent of her stumble and recovery to win the Olympic trials.

Only Saturday there was no catching Texas’ Julien Alfred, who captured St. Lucia’s first Olympic medal with a time of 10.72, the race of her life.

“I feel honored to be an ambassador for my country,” Alfred said. “Not many people know about St. Lucia. Sometimes people ask me where it is.

“Now, as an Olympic champion, people will be searching for St. Lucia.”

Runners searched high and low Saturday for Alfred, who ended Jamaica’s streak of four straight Olympic gold medals in the 100. She ran away from the field on a sloppy track that didn’t bother her in the least, she said. Her coach, Edrick Floreal, who recruited her to Texas in 2019, makes his runners practice in similar conditions.

Alfred, a three-time NCAA champ at Texas and the first female collegian to break seven seconds in the 60 meters, foreshadowed in the semifinals Saturday what was to come that night. Running in the lane next to Richardson, she took advantage of a slow start by the world champ and held off her late charge to win by .05 seconds.

The difference was even greater in the finals, where Richardson’s time of 10.87 eclipsed that of teammate Melissa Jefferson, who took bronze in 10.92. How much did Richardson’s slow start hurt? Her reaction time of 0.221 seconds, the slowest of the finalists, was nearly twice Alfred’s 0.144. Jefferson’s reaction was the same as Alfred’s, and she finished .05 behind her teammate.

Richardson was heavily favored to become the first American woman to win the Olympic 100 since Gail Devers in 1996 because she won the worlds last year in 10.65, the fifth-fastest time ever by a woman, then followed that up with a 10.71 at the Olympic trials, the fastest time this year. Her odds appreciated as Jamaican rivals dropped out. First to go was the defending gold medalist, Elaine Thompson-Herah, who didn’t even make it to Paris because of injury. Then Shericka Jackson announced she was skipping the 100 to concentrate on the 200.

The exodus continued practically up to race time. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, a two-time gold medalist considered Richardson’s top competition Saturday, pulled out because of an injury in warm-ups.

Before that misfortune became public, speculation ran amok over what happened to Fraser-Pryce, whose lane was empty for the semis. Earlier, a video on social media showed Fraser-Pryce and Richardson being denied entrance to the stadium through a gate used previously by athletes. They were then escorted to another gate, but not before the video went viral. On it, Fraser-Pryce could be heard saying security “changed the rules.”

Jamaica’s chef de mission, Ian Kelly, issued a statement confirming the runners had initially been denied entry, but the delay had no impact on Fraser-Pryce’s inability to run.

“There is no truth that she was not allowed to enter the stadium,” he said.

Even if the Jamaican runners had been available and Richardson been at her best, they’d have had a difficult time catching Alfred. Her 10.72 was just .01 off Richardson’s best at worlds, which was run in far better conditions.

Alfred finished fifth at worlds last year with a time of 10.94. She credited her improvement to a lighter schedule this year that allowed her focus on the Olympics as well as the influence of Floreal.

“Especially this year, after the indoor season, I was hard on myself and felt a lot of pressure,” she said. “He helped turn that pressure into motivation. He’s been my rock, like a father and mentor to me.

“I’m happy he believed in me, and that’s why I’m here today.”