Sha’Carri Richardson’s path to the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships is looking increasingly uncertain. The 26-year-old American sprint star, who dazzled with two medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has struggled to recapture that form. Her uneven 2025 season left her outside the top sixteen in the 100m world rankings and now on the verge of missing out on Budapest altogether.

The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships will take place in Budapest from September 11-13, but as of April 2026, Sha’Carri Richardson still hasn’t secured a spot among the final sixteen. The American sprinter is under real pressure after missing out on Olympic gold to Julien Alfred and failing to win the World Championships, which cost her an automatic place in the 100m.

Her struggles through 2025 have left her in a difficult position. Right now, Richardson doesn’t qualify for the 100m based on her world ranking. She hasn’t competed in the event since the World Championships and has slipped outside the qualification bracket.

With the ranking period running from September 2, 2025, to September 1, 2026, time is quickly running out for her to turn things around.

Her only potential route forward is via the Wanda Diamond League, although she’ll have to ensure that she wins the Diamond League to make the cut.

That’s because, as per World Athletics, any athlete who participates in the Diamond League final and doesn’t receive an invitation via their world ranking will make the cut as the last entry in any events that the Ultimate Championship features.

Yet even that is up in the air as Sha’Carri Richardson has yet to announce her participation in any of the 100m races in the 2026 Wanda Diamond League. To make matters even worse for the 26-year-old, she has yet to start her 2026 season, although that will change soon.

Sha’Carri Richardson to open her season at Stawell Gift

The 26-year-old is set to open her 2026 outdoor season in a new way, by participating in the Stawell Gift. An iconic Australian race, the Stawell Gift takes place on grass and pits the Olympic medalist against amateur racers in one of the country’s oldest races.

However, while Sha’Carri Richardson will sprint 120m, her opponents will get a 10 to 25m head start, which seems only fair given the American’s quality.

But despite that, Richardson compared the race to a glorified practise session for her, although she is fully intent on winning the event and the nearly $40,000 prize money.

“When Emanuel [Hudson, her agent] presented the idea of coming [to Stawell], I definitely thought it was funny and unique. I definitely laughed and giggled before he said, ‘No, I am serious’,” Richardson told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“So I was like, ‘OK, this is something I can come and do’, and I definitely thought this would be like a glorified practice. Like, being on grass, it reminds me of what I used to do, being a child running … we were just running in the field. I thought why not do that?”

Richardson added, “No, I still think it’s going to be practice – a glorified practice. I will put the glorified in front of it. It challenges me to do what it is I have been practicing to do.”

Not to mention, Sha’Carri Richardson won’t be the first Olympic sprinter at the Stawell Gift. Cathy Freeman and Asafa Powell have raced it before. Gout Gout ran last year, and this year she’ll join partner Christian Coleman.

Yet, given the fate of her participation in the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, only time will tell if the Stawell Gift leads to a bigger result in the future.