Sha’carri Richardson and Gabby Thomas, two of America’s best-known sprinters, will face off Saturday in Oregon in the highly anticipated 200-meter final of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Track and Field.
No one was close to Richardson in Friday’s semifinal heat. She equaled her personal best with 21.92 seconds.
Then Thomas, who ran in a different heat to Richardson, upped the ante with an incredible 21.78, the best in the world for 2024.
“I was really happy with that,” Thomas told NBC Sports moments after the heat. “It was a really smooth, easy race for me. I didn’t really know what to expect. So to see that momentum for something that felt so good and controlled was a good feeling.”
Richardson said she was looking forward to Saturday’s final and was “busting it.”
The gun for the final set of the women’s 200 meters was supposed to go off around 8:27 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Saturday’s action at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, will also include the men’s 200 meter final and will feature World No. 1 and 2 Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek, Lyles took bronze and Bednarek silver at this distance in Tokyo.
Lyles’ time of 19.60 in Friday’s semis was a U.S. Olympic Trials record.
“It seemed really easy,” said Lyles, who has already qualified for the 100 meters in Paris. “I was really shocked to see that time come. I wasn’t even really trying.”
The men’s 200 meter final will begin at approximately 9:49 pm ET.
Earlier this week, Richardson was victorious in the 100 meters, securing her ticket to Paris as she chased the crown of “fastest woman in the world.”
Richardson, a Dallas native and LSU alumnus, tested positive for THC after qualifying for the Tokyo Games and sat out the competition.
She admitted to taking the drug to cope with her mother’s death and her supporters have attacked the US Doping Agency’s policies on cannabis at a time when the drug is being increasingly legalized across America.
Qualifying for Paris in the 100 and 200 “would show that divine timing is everything,” Richardson said after the semifinal heat.
“I will feel like it is my responsibility to the U.S. to go to Paris and bring back these medals,” she said.
Thomas, a Harvard alumnus, won bronze in the 200 meters in Tokyo. She and Richardson are classified No. 2 and 6respectIa lot, Iin the current world ranking of that event.
Shericka Jackson from Jamaica, who is competing in her national trials this weekend in Kingston, won gold at the last Olympics.
Other finals scheduled for Saturday in Eugene include the men’s and women’s 20km race walk, men’s discus, women’s long jump, women’s shot put and women’s 10,000m.
The shot put competition includes Tokyo silver medalist Raven Saunderswho will be seeking his third trip to the Olympics.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
