Sha’Carri Richardson has been repeating a mantra since returning to the track this season: She’s not back, she’s better.

Richardson, who missed the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for marijuana a month before the Games, delivered the ultimate “I told you so” on Monday night in Budapest by winning her first title at a world track and field championships, running 10.65 seconds — a new championship record — to win the 100 metres. Shericka Jackson of Jamaica was second, in 10.72, and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, also of Jamaica, was third, in 10.77.

With her victory, Richardson, 23, both softened and amplified the noise that has surrounded her since she burst on the professional running scene.

“Honestly I don’t even know what to say,” Richardson said an hour after she had crossed the finish line and stared up at the results with a look of equal parts disbelief and nirvana. “It’s surreal. I think in the morning I’ll probably feel it.”

“I’ve always been in my own world, my own element, so lane nine was perfect for me to do what it is that I know to do and focus on myself.”

In the post-race news conference, the 23-year-old with 2.5 million followers on Instagram berated foreign journalists for mispronouncing her name or for daring to question her performance in the semis, when she was left sitting in the blocks and came so close to blowing her big chance.

This focus, which in May she said has found her peace, has also resulted in some of her fastest times.

She opened her outdoor season in April, running a wind-aided 10.57. The next month, she won the 100 metres at a Diamond League meet in Doha, defeating Jackson, an Olympic and world championship podium mainstay. She defeated Jackson again in July at a Diamond League meet in Poland.

The national championships in Eugene, Oregon, where she could qualify for her first world championships after failing to do so in 2022, were finally on the horizon.

It was there, at Hayward Field, in June 2021, that Richardson had first become a sensation. She had run 10.72 — what was then the sixth-fastest women’s 100 metres in history — a few months prior, and stepped into stardom when she won the 100 metres at the national championships with a dominant performance, finishing in 10.86.

She was quickly pegged as America’s next great sprinter and a favourite heading into the Tokyo Olympics.

But on July 1, 2021, the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced she had tested positive for marijuana, automatically wiping out her result. Her 30-day suspension meant she would not be able to compete in the marquee event at the Olympics.

This year’s national championships — a qualifying meet for the world championships — would be different. She made sure to prove that as soon as she stepped onto the track for the first round of competition on July 6.

Richardson ran a remarkable 10.71, her personal best at the time. She cruised through the semi-finals, advancing to the final round with a time of 10.75.

The next-fastest seed time heading into the final was 10.96.

Richardson had been wearing an orange wig through the first rounds, which is what she wore for much of her 2021 season. She wore the same wig as she ran through the qualifying heats and the semi-finals, and added a green headband when she walked into the stadium for the 100-metre final last month.

When her name was announced, she pulled on her headband to take the wig off. She threw it behind her and looked forward. The crowd roared. She won in 10.82.

“Last time I was really here in a big stadium I had my orange hair and I wanted to show you guys that I’m still that girl but I’m better,” she said to Tiara Williams in an interview posted on Instagram after she secured her spot in Budapest.

Her debut on the world championships stage on Sunday could not have gone better. Richardson cruised to a win, slowing in the final few metres as she mimicked wiping sweat from her brow. She won her heat with a time of 10.92, and once again led the field into the semi-finals.

In her semi-finals, a slow reaction time had Richardson off to an unpromising start. She was able to finish in 10.84, but unable to secure one of the two automatic qualifying slots after finishing third behind Jackson and Marie-Josée Ta Lou. It was quickly clear that her time would move her to the final.

She was assigned Lane 9 in the final. It’s not a desirable position as it’s nearly impossible to get a sense of the field as the race progresses, and medals are determined by milliseconds.

That is unless the person in Lane 9 is leading and has no one in her periphery. It was the position Richardson found herself in after catching up to Jackson, Fraser-Pryce and Ta Lou, then passing them, with just a few strides to go.

At the start of the race, the opportunity was right in front of her. Then, 10.65 seconds later, she grabbed it.

Yarraji fails

India’s national record holder 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji failed to qualify for the semi-finals as she clocked a below-par 13.05 seconds to finish seventh in her heat on Tuesday, adds PTI.

New York Times News Service