Sha’Carri Richardson overtook Julien Alfred in the final strides to win the 100m in each’s first race since the Olympics at a Diamond League meet in Zurich, Switzerland.
The Olympic 100m silver medalist Richardson clocked 10.84 seconds on a rain-soaked track, four hundredths ahead of the Olympic gold medalist Alfred from Saint Lucia.
“This is probably the funnest race I’ve had all season,” Richardson said. “I took that time after the Games to come back, regroup and be able to show you guys the Sha’Carri Richardson y’all know.”
At the Paris Games, Alfred won in 10.72 ahead of Richardson (10.87) on Aug. Richardson has the world’s best time of 2024: 10.71 from the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Also Thursday, Grant Holloway won the 110m hurdles in 12.99 seconds, breaking his tie with 1996 Olympic gold medalist Allen Johnson for the most sub-13-second races in history. Holloway and Johnson were previously tied at 11 times going sub-13.
In the men’s 1500m, Olympic bronze medalist Yared Nuguse went past Tokyo Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the last 100 meters to win in 3:29.21. Ingebrigtsen clocked 3:29.52, ahead of Paris Olympic champion Cole Hocker (3:30.46).
In the men’s 200m race, Letsile Tebogo from Botswana beat American Kenny Bednarek by a small margin of 19.55 to 19.57, just like they did at the Olympics. Bednarek improved his personal best time by 0.02 seconds. Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet, who is an Olympic champion, won the women’s 5000m race with a time of 14:09.52, which is the seventh-best time ever recorded.
Ryan Crouser won first place in the shot put event for the second time in a row at the Diamond League, with a throw of 22.66 meters, his best performance since winning his third Olympic gold medal. In the next competition, Crouser will aim to win his second consecutive season title in the Diamond League.
The Diamond League season is wrapping up next week with the Diamond League Final happening in Brussels on September 13-14, and it will be broadcasted live on Peacock.