By Chris Chavez
May 26, 2023
"I’m not back, I’m better. Because these last three years, I’ve shown ya’ll what I can do. It’s was just me that was standing in my way. Now, I’m with myself. I have no problems now to be on the track and to do what it is that we know I can do. I’m excited to keep turning up."
LOS ANGELES – Sha’Carri Richardson met with reporters ahead of her 100m race at the LA Grand Prix on Sunday. Richardson is currently the fastest woman in the world at 100m with her 10.76s performance from the Doha Diamond League. She also ran a wind-aided 10.57 (+4.1m/s wind) on April 8.
Here’s what she said…
Q: What’s different about you and your training this year compared to last year?
SHA’CARRI RICHARDSON: Everything that I’m doing now is completely the same. The only thing that’s different is within myself…Like what these great athletes have stated, it’s blocking out the noise; blocking out the outside. Not trying to fight the world anymore. I have to understand that I’ll start with me and what gravitates toward me is for me. And what’s rebuked is not meant for me and my path. I have accepted that. It took a little minute but now we’re here and I’m grateful to be in this moment; to be whole and to be complete again.
Q: Do you think you put too much pressure on yourself before?
SHA’CARRI RICHARDSON: No. Actually, I didn’t put any pressure on myself. I love the pressure. I’m a diamond. I love pressure. In being honest with you, (it was) dealing with you guys. I had never had to be literally in front of the world and live my life or be in front of the world and allow and have no choice but other people having opinions about what I go through. And when you don’t know, based off what you see or what you go seek…In a lack of terms and not to be disrespectful, I had to learn to block you guys out in order to look at myself and find myself first. When I did that, the people that were meant for me, they gravitated to me. The people that weren’t, they were removed. That’s why I am in the position that I am today.
What’s Next
Richardson races the 100m on Sunday at 2:45 p.m. PT. She will race against Olympic 200m bronze medalist Gabby Thomas and 2022 U.S. 100m champion Melissa Jefferson in the heats before potentially facing off against Aleia Hobbs (currently ranked No. 5 on the world for the 100m) in the final.
The meet will be televised on NBC and can be streamed on Peacock from 1:30 p.m. PT.
I will be on-site in Los Angeles to bring you interviews and live updates on CITIUS MAG’s Twitter, YouTube and Instagram channels.
Chris Chavez
Chris Chavez launched CITIUS MAG in 2016 as a passion project while working full-time for Sports Illustrated. He covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and grew his humble blog into a multi-pronged media company. He completed all six World Marathon Majors and is an aspiring sub-five-minute miler.
