The women’s 100m event is set to ignite the individual sprint action at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on Friday, 2 August. The big question on everyone’s mind: Who will be the new Olympic champion at the Stade de France?
Double sprint world champion Sha’Carri Richardson is on the hunt for her first Olympic medal, leading a stellar women’s field that also features three-time Olympic gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Notably absent from the competition are Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah, sidelined by injury, and her Jamaican teammate Shericka Jackson, who announced her withdrawal on July 31.
The women’s 100m race is set to be a thrilling contest, largely defined by the fierce rivalry between U.S. and Jamaican athletes. Collectively, these sprinters have clocked seven of the ten fastest times in history. Richardson, with a personal best of 10.65 seconds, is joint fifth on the all-time list.
For Richardson, Paris 2024 represents a chance at redemption. She missed the Tokyo 2020 Games after testing positive for THC (cannabis), a substance banned under World Anti-Doping Agency rules. “Every move you make is leading to checkmate. So the Olympics, that’s checkmate, that’s the moment an athlete dreams about,” she told Vogue Magazine in the lead-up to the Games.
Keep an eye on Africa’s fastest woman, Ivorian Marie-Josee Ta Lou, Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred, 2019 world champion Dina Asher-Smith, and Nigeria’s Rosemary Chukwuma, who are all serious contenders.
With such a lightning-fast field, Florence Griffith Joyner’s long-standing 100m world record of 10.49 seconds, set in 1988, could be under threat. The stage is set for an electrifying showdown at the Stade de France.