By Chris Chavez
May 13, 2023
Sha’Carri Richardson is on fire right now. The U.S. star dominated the women’s 200m at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday afternoon. Celebrating with 20m remaining in the race, she crossed the finish line in a meet record of 22.07s
Had she run all the way through the finish line, there’s a good chance she would’ve gotten under her personal best of 22.00 from August 2020.
This is the second 200m race of Richardson’s outdoor season. She finished second in Gaborone, Botswana on April 29 in 22.54s. She later shared that she was not permitted to run in the 100 at the meet in Botswana and Nairobi.
On Friday, world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce scratched from the 100m in Nairobi due to a knee injury. A representative for Athletics Kenya said there were discussions for Richardson to run the 100m in her place but Richardson refuted those comments after her victory.
"I got kicked out of the 100 in Botswana and also here in Kenya,” Richardson said after the race. “I knew I had to do my best with the performance that I was allowed to run in. Despite what others may have gone on social media and said, no one asked me to run the 100. Nobody asked me to run the 100m. So, therefore, I needed to do what I know to do in my 200.”
Richardson’s training partner, Twanisha Terry, won the women's 100m in 10.86s.
What it means:
Richardson’s clearly got her swagger back. She’s won every race this season except the 200m in Botswana. After her 100m win in Doha, she said, “I’m not back. I’m better” and is continuing to prove it.
Other notable results:
– Ferdinand Omanyala closed hard to pull away from a pair of world championship silver medalists and won the men’s 100m in a world-leading 9.84s (-0.5m/s wind) ahead of Kenny Bednarek (9.98s) and Marvin Bracy (10.03s).
– The Kenyan middle-distance stars showed out in front of a home crowd. Mary Moraa won the women’s 800m in 1:58.85. 18-year-old Emmanuel Wanyonyi, who won gold at last year’s U20 World Championships, ran a world-leading 1:43.32 for the men’s 800m. Fellow 18-year-old and U20 world champion Reynold Cheruiyot notched a personal best of 3:32.01 to beat Abel Kipsang (3:32.70) in the men’s 1500m. The next generation of Kenyan middle-distance stars is already taking it to the current stars.
– Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga continues his strong season with a 44.25s win in the men’s 400m.
– Ukrainian Olympic silver medalist Yaroslava Mahuchikh cleared a world-leading 2.00m in the women’s high jump.
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.
