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The American's instagram follower count skyrocketed from 2.4 million to 3.3 million followers after storming to victory in Budapest
Sha’Carri Richardson was gobsmacked for a couple of reasons after she stormed to 100m victory at the ongoing World Athletics Championships taking place in Budapest on Monday evening.
Although she spread her arms in triumph before the race was over as she crossed the finish line to victory in her favored lane nine, her confident impression didn’t hold.
The 23-year-old went from confidence to self-doubt as she searched the stadium scoreboard for her time.
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20:00 - 22.08.2023
Smiling to the bank: Mouthwatering cash Ferdinand Omanyala will earn for 7th place finish in Budapest
Omanyala opted to stay optimistic after the match, wearing a broad smile, as if to suggest that it was not all doom and gloom considering the amount of money he is set to earn.
When her 10.65sec – and her 100m world title – was confirmed, she couldn’t believe what had happened. But that was not the first time she would be shocked.
During her interview with NBC Sports, while still sweaty and with the American flag wrapped around here tattooed body, she was informed that her instagram account had 3.3 million followers ahead of the finals, a significant increase from the 2.4 million followers she had when the championships started last Thursday.
Asked whether her performance had made such an impression on fans that her follower count increased overnight, Richardson said: “It is easily just the message I want to send to everybody, I have been saying it all season, I am not back, I am better!”
Richardson was up against it, after she scraped into the final and had to race from the outside lane as a result.
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22:45 - 22.08.2023
ATHLETICS Faith Kipyegon wins Kenya's first Gold in Budapest
She led the race from gun to tape, leaving no doubt as to who was the boss!
Meanwhile, her Jamaican rivals Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce – respectively, the world’s top-ranked sprinter and a 10-time world champion – started their races from the middle of the track, much too far to see Richardson coming.
Even so, the American shocked the world, rallying past four of the fastest sprinters in history to win gold on the biggest stage outside the Olympics.
Asked about what inspired her to victory, Richardson said it was all about her mindset.
“My mindset, shaking off the nerves knowing I have done this before and that it is just another race,” she said.
“Not putting a pressure of world championships on it but just showing that this is just another race, this is what I have been training for all season long.
“Not even just to a season, all my life, and I am grateful.”
Looking back into the moment she was reviewing her performance as the contestants heavily anticipated the results of the victory after it had been won by the narrowest of margins, Richardson admitted to being “nerve-wrecked”.
“Nerve-wrecking, knowing that all them ladies I lined up against were heavy hitters, everyone that came into the race put their best foot forward, but feeling like I executed my best not even knowing what the result was, just feeling like I executed my best was the best thing for myself.
“Seeing my name pop up also with a PR, that was a big shock for me you guys, so it was amazing knowing that literally I put my best race for it and I came out with the victory.”
In 2021 she was among the favorites for the Tokyo Olympics, only for her dreams to go up in smoke when she tested positive for marijuana at the US trials after the death of her mother. First she missed the Games. Then, for most of 2022, she went missing.
But, on a night of suffocating heat and impossible drama, Richardson came back with a vengeance. Few gave her more than a puncher’s chance against the Jamaican sprint legends Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who had won 24 world championship medals between them – 13 of them gold. But the American had other ideas, running the sixth fastest time ever to write her name into the history books.
“Not even just the jamaicans, I feel like I have earned the respect for myself which is the biggest thing for me, not just the world but for Shakari Richardson. I put that respect on me for me.
“I have been downplaying myself for so long and this entire season. I know I belong, I know I deserve to be here and it just feels amazing to execute that as well.”
With Monday’s victory, Richardson became USA’s first 100m women’s world champion since the late, great Tori Bowie in 2017.
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10:00 - 23.08.2023
ATHLETICS The millions Faith Kipyegon earned from winning Kenya’s first gold medal in Budapest
The three-time world 1,500m champion boosted her bank balance by tens of millions on Tuesday following her victory at the 2023 World Athletics Championships
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