It’s another loss for an athlete called the greatest of all time! Sha’Carri Richardson hadn’t had a good start to the 2025 season. At the Tokyo Grand Prix, she opened her season running 11.47 s into 0.9 m/s, finishing 4th in the Seiko Golden Grand Prix women’s 100 m. Her next stop was the 2025 Préfontaine Classic, and good lord! She placed 9th in the women’s 100 m in 11.19s, well behind winner Melissa Jefferson‑Wooden’s 10.75s. Now, what did she do in her third race of the season?

The Clash of the Best of the Best is just barely a month away now. And to find these best of the best from America, the 2025 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships are live from Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, from Thursday, July 31 to Sunday, August 3, 2025. Richardson stood in her favorite discipline of 100m, where she was bested by Kayla White, clocking 10.89s while the 2023 World Champion finished second with 11.07s. Now, did she say anything after the race? Yes…

“So just going out and still having the time even after this weekend to have time to be physically prepared and knowing that this weekend I just had to come out and just run a complete race. So it feels really good to not have that pressure and still be able to go to Tokyo,” was her answer to the question if it feels nice to race without having the pressure to qualify, since being the 2023 World Champion, she is already going there. But she has been a little slow this year, that’s what the observation is. Turns out, it’s all part of a plan.

Do you feel like you’re flying under the radar a little bit heading into Tokyo? She was asked in an interview today. Richardson answered, “I think so. I like to be a secret weapon. So, right now, I’m kind of just cruising under the radar, but when it’s time to hit, it’s going to be a bang when y’all see my name. Y have a blessed one. Thank you so much.” What the defending world champion means is that all of her races leading up to the world championships in Tokyo are nothing but her warm-ups for the ultimate showdown. And when that happens?

She believes she is going to leave the jaws dropped on the track. She has shown significant improvement from before. As the commentator announced today, “Richardson tried to reel her in, gonna get second here,” she clocked her season best. So can she repeat what she did in 2023? Her comments do hint that there is a podium coming, but there is a hunger for the gold in those words, too. The source of her confidence?

Nothing stops Sha’Carri Richardson

After her last-place finish in the Préfontaine Classic, the Olympian sent the same message as above in an interview. She said that her main motivation was simply to run a healthy race. With her automatic bye to the World Championships as the reigning world champion, she emphasized that her focus now is on staying consistent, pushing forward, and honing her performance in practice. But she also dropped the secret to her confidence.

On being questioned about how she constantly believes in herself and has that confidence, despite fighting injuries and setbacks, she said, “Um, honestly, it’s about having a ground. I go back to my faith and having that faith. If you don’t believe in yourself first, you can’t expect anybody else to believe in you. So, I believe in the fact that no matter what I do, when I am 100%, there’s literally nothing that can stop me but me.” And she has proven this in the past.

Sha’Carri Richardson won gold in the women’s 100 m final at the 2023 World Championships, clocking 10.65 seconds to set a Championship Record and equal the world-leading time of the season. Starting in lane 9 after placing third in her semifinal, she surged past top contenders, including Shericka Jackson (silver, 10.72 s) and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (bronze, 10.77 s). If only she would do something like this in Tokyo, the fairytales would come true. What do you think, can she?