They called it the thriller in Eugene. Sha’Carri Richardson vs everyone else turned into Richardson vs Melissa Jefferson-Wooden on the line, settled by a hundredth of a second. Jefferson-Wooden’s emphatic celebration said everything, and fans were excited. Because finally, two of America’s fastest women were finally fit, firing and ready to go to war all summer. Then the US Championships entries dropped, and fans got the opposite of what they wanted.

Instead of both women lining up to battle each other twice, fans won’t get a rematch. Jefferson-Wooden dropped out of the 100m, and Richardson out of the 200m. That takes away some of the shine from the USATF Outdoor Championships. However, there are plenty of others who’ll be itching to beat them.

Sha’Carri Richardson will face off against Jenna Prandini, Anavia Battle, Kayla White and McKenzie Long in the 100m. None of them has a personal best faster than Richardson’s, but they’ll be hoping to change that on D-Day. The same goes for Jefferson-Wooden in the 200m, as Long, Battle, White, Prandini and Cambrea Sturgis will line up against her.

Even then, the focus and spotlight since the Prefontaine Classic has been on Richardson vs Jefferson-Wooden. That was especially after whispers of an altercation at their training camp, Star Athletics, filtered through all the noise. Add that to Jefferson-Wooden’s comments after the Classic, and it adds to the drama, especially after she called it a “fight”.

“Anytime it comes to [people talking about] me, it’s always an excuse as to why I’m doing as good as I am,” Jefferson-Wooden told LetsRun.com. “It’s not because I put in the work to be where I am.”

That is surprising considering that the two have been rather pally in and around the track ever since Jefferson-Wooden joined Richardson at Star Athletics. They were even spotted hugging each other after a race a few years ago but clearly something has changed. That’s what makes it rather interesting that Richardson and Jefferson-Wooden are the only two major names not running in both races.

However, judging by their seasons so far, even that makes sense somewhat. Both women have raced sparingly in 2026, with Jefferson-Wooden only running five races since April. Richardson, on the other hand, has run only 100m races since June, competing in a total of eight since she kicked off her season.

Even then, the Olympian hasn’t run the 200m after losing back-to-back races in Xiamen and Shanghai, focusing on the 100m since. Jefferson-Wooden, however, has run three back-to-back 100m sprints, winning all three while coming second in her only 200m thus far. 

That solitary 200m loss also helped shape Jefferson-Wooden’s approach to the event this season. Looking back on Rome, she admitted the defeat came with an important takeaway.

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden reflects on her 200m loss in Rome

Arguably one of the best female sprinters in the world right now, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden has had an incredible rise. 2025, more than anything, proved that spectacularly as the 25-year-old swept the board. She ended the year with one of the best seasons in sprinting history, winning 12 out of her 13 races.

As if that wasn’t enough, she also clocked personal bests in the 100m and 200m while making history at the World Championships. However, 2026 saw her lose a race for the first time since May 2025, when Julien Alfred beat her in the 200m at the Rome DL. It marked a change, considering the last time she ran the 200m, Jefferson-Wooden won an unprecedented sprint treble.

That was at the 2025 World Championships when the 25-year-old won gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relays. In the process, she became only the second woman in history to do so, since Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in 2013. However, even then, what Jefferson-Wooden was focused on was her mind-set going into the race.

“I feel like the biggest thing in that race was that I wasn’t scared. I was fearless, right?” she said in an interview with Olympics.com.

Because in hindsight, it wasn’t the worst race of her career. She clocked 22.17 which currently ranks in her all-time personal top ten times in the discipline. It is towards the lower end at seventh with all but two of the times on that list set in 2025. However, what did make the difference was that Julien Alfred beat her with 21.93, the joint fifth-best time of the season at the time. 

Even then, Jefferson-Wooden lined up at the starting-line with the intention of cracking that 21 second barrier again.

“I got on that line with every intention of winning, with every intention of opening with a 21 [second run], doing things that have never been done before,” the Olympian added.

“And even though that may not have happened, because I went out there without the fear that everyone else who has already been running, and they’ve got into a rhythm, I can look back at myself and say, ‘OK, I did everything I needed to do to get to the line that day to be able to run’.” 

The rivalry may dominate the conversation, but Melissa Jefferson-Wooden’s schedule suggests she’s thinking beyond one race. For now, her priority appears to be maximizing her own championship campaign.