LGBTQ+ sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson—who has dominated the 100-meter race this year—won gold at the world championships on Aug. 21 in Budapest, Hungary.
Richardson ran the distance in 10.65 seconds, besting Jamaican runners Shericka Jackson and five-time world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, ESPN reported.
The win capped an incredible comeback for Richardson. Two years ago (after the Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon), Richardson’s road to the Tokyo Games was blocked by a positive test for marijuana.
“I would say, ‘Never give up,'” she said when asked what message this victory sent. “Never allow media, never allow outsiders, never allow anything but yourself and your faith define who you are. I would say, ‘Always fight. No matter what, fight.'”
The 10.65 was a world-championship record. However, Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 35-year-old world record of 10.49 still stands.
—Andrew Davis