It’s not the biggest victory of her career, but it was one of the hardest for Sha’Carri Richardson, who won the Stawell Gift on Monday despite giving the field up to nine metres’ head start.
The American Olympic and world champion became just the third woman to win the $40,000 women’s gift from scratch. She won in 13.15 seconds.
Earlier, the Olympic gold medallist needed every centimetre of the 120m track to win her semi-final in 13.52 by just a millimetre.
Her partner Christian Coleman – also a world champion – was, like Gout Gout last year, unable to make the final, run out in the semi-finals after being unable to make up ground on Grady Woods, who won the semi-final in 12.32s after starting off seven metres.
“I felt good, felt like I put up a good fight, but these guys are no slouches, so I mean giving up that much of a margin over 120, it is what it is,” Coleman said.
“I was thinking about everything we had been working on, don’t break, just stay tall, and I feel like I was inching closer and closer and closer. Maybe if it was 130m or 150m I might have had them.
“I had fun, that’s all I was asking for. I think I will get better and better throughout the year.
“I didn’t really know what to expect, I was just embracing it and just coming out here to compete. I’m a competitor, so I just really wanted to give myself a shot by just making the final.
“It’s tough, running on grass, giving that much of a margin to people who have trained specifically for this.
“I wasn’t thinking about them much at all, just thinking about my lane and how I am going to execute the same way I do any race if they are right beside you.
“This is the first time I have had a race where they are all in front of me, I just tried to stay focused on my lane and what I needed to execute. I feel like I put together a good race, a good run, would have been good to get in the final.”
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Michael Gleeson is an award-winning senior sports writer specialising in AFL and athletics.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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