Sha’Carri Richardson Is the Fastest Woman in the World

Sha’Carri Richardson has been repeating a mantra since returning to the track this season: She’s not back, she’s better.

Richardson, who missed the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for marijuana a month before the Games, delivered the ultimate “I told you so” on Monday in Budapest by winning her first title at a world track and field championships, running 10.65 seconds to win the 100 meters. Shericka Jackson of Jamaica was second, in 10.72, and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, also of Jamaica, was third, in 10.77.

With her victory, Richardson, 23, both softened and amplified the noise that has surrounded her since she burst on the professional running scene.

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“Honestly I don’t even know what to say,” Richardson said an hour after she had crossed the finish line and stared up at the results with a look of equal parts disbelief and nirvana. “It’s surreal. I think in the morning I’ll probably feel it.”

She got to this place by finding her peace, she said at a news conference at the Los Angeles Grand Prix in May.

“These last three years, I’ve shown you what I can do,” Richardson said. “It just was me that was standing in my way. Now I’m with myself.”

That has resulted in some of her fastest times.

She opened her outdoor season in April, running a wind-aided 10.57. (The time would have been considered her personal best, but the tailwind was above what is allowable for records.) The next month, she won the 100 meters at a Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar, defeating Jackson, an Olympic and world championship podium mainstay. She defeated Jackson again in July at a Diamond League meet in Poland.

The national championships in Eugene, Ore., where she could qualify for her first world championships after failing to do so in 2022, were finally on the horizon.