Sha’Carri Richardson’s boyfriend, Christian Coleman, approached the 2025 Prefontaine Classic with high hopes. After legendary wins in 2023 (9.83 s) and 2024 (9.95 s), he eyed a third straight crown on Hayward Field. But the curse of his worst form this season stopped him. On July 5, his magic had run out. Jamaica’s rising star Kishane Thompson claimed a commanding victory in the men’s 100 m final at the 50th Prefontaine Classic, crossing the finish line in 9.85 seconds, and Zharnel Hughes (2nd, 9.91 s) and Trayvon Bromell (3rd, 9.94 s) managed good competition. Coleman was last to finish with a time of 10.06 seconds. A track and field legend is counting on his chances of becoming the World Champion at this rate. Spoiler-alert.

“It’s going to be hard. This is going to be his toughest challenge yet,” said Justin Gatlin on the latest episode of Ready Set Go aired today, as she pondered the chances of Christian Coleman making it out of the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The 2025 USATF Outdoor (Senior) National Championships are confirmed for July 31 to August 3, 2025, at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. This four-day event doubles as the final selection meet for the U.S. team heading to the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, which follow in September.

Justifying the claim, he said in the podcast, “And I say that because it’s this year for him, which is a year where he’s transitioning and trying to learn how to be able to run maybe with different techniques or race strategies or just trying to get, you know what I’m saying? Trying to get his feet back underneath him.” Coleman switched last year from Tim Hall (a highly personalized coaching system at Tennessee) to training under Dennis Mitchell with a big group environment in Florida. That’s meant sharing routines, less one-on-one attention, and a heavier, more muscular training load. At 29, this kind of shift, both physically and mentally, demands an adjustment period.

The Olympian further weighed in, “Um, he’s doing it during a year where it’s changing of the guards, where you have a lot of athletes who are coming out of college who are running fast times, who are ready to compete, who are not scared to compete against the professional athletes.” For example, Christian Coleman was beaten by 19-year-old Christian Miller at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo on May 18, 2025, where Miller ran 10.08 s to Coleman’s 10.11 s, taking second place ahead of the veteran sprinter.

Gatlin also mentioned, “That’s just college. You forget there’s also some high school kids out there who have signed up and are getting ready to run at senior nationals as well.” On June 14, 2025, high-school phenom 18‑year‑old Maurice  Gleaton  Jr. ran a wind‑assisted 9.87s in the prelims to beat Coleman’s 10.03s, then fired off 9.82s (+2.9 m/s) in the final, finishing ahead of Coleman’s 9.93s. The hopes for Coleman for the World Championships only get lower.

The chances for Christian Coleman are getting lower

Christian Coleman’s 2025 campaign opened with promise—he clocked a strong 10.06 s to take third at the Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville in April, signaling a possible return to form—but the momentum quickly evaporated. A week later at the Xiamen Diamond League, he ran 10.18 s, finishing 4th behind Akani Simbine’s 9.99 s, clearly off his peak pace.

He carried that form into Shaoxing (10.13 s, 5th) and Tokyo (10.11 s, 3rd), once again missing a podium spot in strong international fields. At the Grand Slam Meet in Philadelphia, he ran 10.12 s for fourth in the 100 m and 20.66s for sixth in the 200 m, reinforcing a season marked by consistent, solid performances—but no victories. These results paint a clear picture: Coleman has yet to breach the sub-10-second barrier in 2025 and hasn’t claimed a single 100 m win.

At the same time, Noah Lyles is steadily getting back into top gear. He opened the London Diamond League 100 m season with a second‑place 10.00s effort behind Oblique Seville’s 9.86s win. This was followed by a dominant 19.88 s win in the 200 m at the Monaco DL. Meanwhile, Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson has surged onto the scene with a blistering 9.75 s—currently the world lead—in Kingston, earning him sixth on the all‑time list and marking the fastest 100 m since 2015. This is the competition Coleman has to go through to win the 2025 World Championship. Do you count him in?