When Sha’Carri Richardson’s 100-meter world championship record of 10.65 seconds was broken by Melissa Jefferson-Wooden last year with a 10.61, it was a big shock. “It was ‘Carri’s, it’s mine now,” Jefferson-Wooden said at the time. That moment crowned her world champion, but it also left something unfinished between them. Now, it seems Richardson is ready to answer back, as she returns to defend a different 2024 title with one clear intent: she will not let Melissa take this one, too.

For Sha’Carri Richardson, that moment comes at the Nike Prefontaine Classic in July 2026 at Hayward Field. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden is in the race, too, and thus Richardson’s focus would likely be to defend her title. Interestingly, this race brings back the last two winners on the same track, but with very different momentum.

In 2024, Richardson ran the same race and won with a time of 10.83, finishing ahead of Julien Alfred (10.93), Dina Asher-Smith (10.98), Daryll Neita (11.00), while Jefferson was also in that field, finishing in 11.02. But a year later, the same race told a different story.

Jefferson-Wooden returned in 2025 and took the title in 10.75 in the same race, holding off Alfred (10.77) and Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith (10.90). The rest of the field included Tina Clayton, Favour Ofili, Asher-Smith, Twanisha Terry, and Maia McCoy, while Richardson, coming off an injury setback and struggling out of the blocks, finished ninth in 11.19.

So where does that leave 2026?

Both athletes look in top form, and interestingly, they have already shown that together. Earlier this week,  at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational at Percy Beard Track, they ran on the same Team USA 4×100m relay. Jefferson-Wooden took the first leg, Richardson brought it home, and they clocked 41.70, the fastest time in the world this year. They were well ahead of the Pure Athletics team, at 42.42.

Seeing both of them in this kind of form, it would not be surprising if either of them threatens the Hayward Field and Prefontaine Classic record in the women’s 100m, which stands at 10.54, set by Elaine Thompson-Herah in 2021. But the real question is, who could win between them?

The fastest showdown brewing between Sha’Carri Richardson and Jefferson-Wooden

Sha’Carri Richardson has secured her place at the top of sprinting with results that are hard to ignore. At the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, she won 100m gold in a championship-record 10.65, added 4x100m relay gold, and took bronze in the 200m. She carried that form into the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she won 4x100m relay gold and 100m silver.

Now in 2026, she looks back in strong rhythm. One of her standout moments came at the Stawell Gift, where she made history by becoming only the third woman ever to win the race from scratch.

On the other side, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden has taken things up another level. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, she won relay gold for Team USA. But then, at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden won the 100m in 10.61, the 200m in 21.68, and added relay gold to finish with three gold medals

In fact, she holds a slightly faster personal best in the 100m, clocking 10.61 compared to Richardson’s 10.65. The gap looks small on paper, but it becomes a major talking point in a race this tight. As they head into 2026, both bring different strengths and momentum, but one reality stands out: neither plans to give anything away.