Sha’Carri Richardson’s Comeback Halted by Julien Alfred, Who Brings 1st Olympic Medal to St. Lucia

St. Lucia's Julien Alfred celebrates after winning the women's 100m final of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 3, 2024. (AFP)
St. Lucia's Julien Alfred celebrates after winning the women's 100m final of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 3, 2024. (AFP)
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Sha’Carri Richardson’s Comeback Halted by Julien Alfred, Who Brings 1st Olympic Medal to St. Lucia

St. Lucia's Julien Alfred celebrates after winning the women's 100m final of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 3, 2024. (AFP)
St. Lucia's Julien Alfred celebrates after winning the women's 100m final of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 3, 2024. (AFP)

There were small signs for anyone willing to look that the sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson might not quite match the person she has become.

The wobbly starts. The little details. The meek exit from the Olympic trials earlier this summer after such a promising start.

All the hype aside, Richardson was never a sure thing to win an Olympic gold medal Saturday in the 100 meters. On a rainy and odd evening at the Stade de France, 23-year-old Julien Alfred from St. Lucia showed there’s more than one inspirational story, and more than one great sprinter, at this Olympic track meet.

Alfred romped through the puddles and past Richardson and the rest of a largely depleted field, finishing in 10.72 seconds to throw a brick wall in front of what was supposed to be one of the best stories in Paris.

She beat Richardson by .15 seconds — the biggest margin in the Olympic 100 since 2008 — to bring home the first medal of any color to the small eastern Caribbean island of St. Lucia.

Alfred’s victory completed a journey that included her father’s death in 2013 and a move to Jamaica as a teenager, alone, in hopes of training to become a great sprinter.

“He believed I could do it,” Alfred said, crying as she talked about her dad. “He couldn’t get to see me on the biggest stage of my career.”

Richardson was left with silver — a nice color but certainly not the point of all this after what she’s been through the last three years. Her training partner, Melissa Jefferson, finished third in 10.92 seconds.

Richardson came in as the favorite even though she has hardly been flawless this summer.

Her opening race on the road to Paris included a terrible start at Olympic trials in an event she won with an untied shoelace.

Those starts got marginally better, but after she won the US title in the 100, it was a bit of a shock when she failed to qualify for the 200, thus denying herself a chance at double gold in Paris.

On the gold-medal day in the 100, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce abruptly withdrew from the event before the semifinal, leaving all three Jamaicans who swept the podium at the Tokyo Games on the sideline for what, at one point, had been billed as the marquee race of the Olympics.

All of which seemed to set up perfectly for Richardson — only when she lined up in the semifinal, she was right next to Alfred, the only other woman in the Olympic field to crack 10.8 this year.

Richardson lumbered out of the blocks and lost that race by .05 seconds. It was a harbinger of things to come, though Alfred said she barely noticed who was in the lane next to her — it was Richardson again — when the final rolled around 90 minutes later.

“Sometimes when I do, I tend to panic,” Alfred said. “So far this year (not paying attention) has been such a good strategy.“

Neither the specter of Richardson on her right again nor the downpour that started about 10 minutes before the race began could slow down Alfred in the final.

Alfred’s opening burst played big when she won the world indoor title earlier this year at 60 meters, and she started strong in this one, with two steps on the entire field at the 40-meter mark. Richardson, as has happened before this summer, labored to get to full speed.

The American, her arms pumping wide in Lane 7, looked to be making up a bit of ground when Alfred leaned into the finish line. But there was too big a gap between them, and the real contest was the one between Richardson and Jefferson for second.

“I’m a baby in this sport,” said the 23-year-old Jefferson, who won the 2022 US title while Richardson was still fashioning her comeback. “I have a lot of learning and growth to do.”

A centerpiece of NBC’s pre-Games’ coverage and the star of a Netflix documentary about track, Richardson did not show up for interviews after her second-place finish. It was a rarely seen breach of Olympic protocol and a move destined to keep the world guessing about a star who has stayed very much on message since her luck started changing this time last year.

In the few interviews she did in the leadup to the Games, she leaned into personal growth, and how she had become a more thoughtful, mindful person since her lowest point in 2021, shortly after she learned of the death of her biological mother.

That triggered a bout with depression, which left her alone in her hotel room in 2021 at Olympic trials, which is where she said she used marijuana. That cost her the trip to Tokyo. It took two years for her to climb back to the pinnacle, and it turns out, the high point came last year at worlds in Hungary, when she won the 100-meter title.

Given where she was at the last Olympics, a silver medal at these ones, with a chance for more next week in the 4x100 relays, isn’t bad.

But hardly anyone had her playing second fiddle to the sprinter from St. Lucia.

Alfred said on race days, she usually wakes up early on to jot down thoughts in her journal.

On Saturday, she kept it simple. “I wrote down ‘Julien Alfred: Olympic champion,’” she said.

Short. Simple. And 100% on target, a lot like the race she ran to become one.

America’s lone gold medal of the day came from Ryan Crouser, who earned a three-peat in the shot put. Another American silver went to the 4x400 mixed relay team, which got reeled in by Femke Bol of the Netherlands in the anchor lap.

Jasmine Moore won a bronze medal in the triple jump competition, won by Thea Lafond, who brought the first Olympic medal to Dominica.

Moore set herself up for a possible double when she competes in long jump later this week.

“Tomorrow, I think I’ll eat, lift, eat some more and enjoy it,” Moore said. “And when long jump comes, just try to have some fun.”

Earlier in the day, Noah Lyles finished second (10.04) in a sluggish first-round qualifying heat to make the semifinals in the men’s 100. The semifinals and finals for that are set for Sunday.



Life after Mbappé is Proving better than Expected for French Leader PSG

Kylian Mbappé of PSG celebrates after scoring the 0-2 goal during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, 2nd leg soccer match between Real Sociedad and Paris Saint-Germain, in San Sebastian, Spain, 05 March 2024. (EPA)
Kylian Mbappé of PSG celebrates after scoring the 0-2 goal during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, 2nd leg soccer match between Real Sociedad and Paris Saint-Germain, in San Sebastian, Spain, 05 March 2024. (EPA)
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Life after Mbappé is Proving better than Expected for French Leader PSG

Kylian Mbappé of PSG celebrates after scoring the 0-2 goal during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, 2nd leg soccer match between Real Sociedad and Paris Saint-Germain, in San Sebastian, Spain, 05 March 2024. (EPA)
Kylian Mbappé of PSG celebrates after scoring the 0-2 goal during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, 2nd leg soccer match between Real Sociedad and Paris Saint-Germain, in San Sebastian, Spain, 05 March 2024. (EPA)

Kylian Mbappé's departure was expected to sidetrack Paris Saint-Germain this season.

How would a team long viewed as over-reliant on the France superstar cope without him after his move to Real Madrid?

Who could score so freely for PSG when Mbappé averaged more than 40 goals per season over the past four campaigns and more than 250 in seven years at the club? And who would bail the team out of trouble with last-gasp winners?

Things have turned out rather well, so far, and the widely anticipated post-Mbappé headache has not materialized.

Far from it.

PSG is the only team to have won its first three games in the French league and has scored an impressive 13 goals, according to The AP.

No longer being so reliant on Mbappé seems to have produced an early side effect, whereby the goals are being shared around and teamwork has improved in coach Luis Enrique's side.

Bradley Barcola has led the way with four goals, adding a finishing touch to his skilful dribbling down the left, while his France teammate Randal Kolo Muani and South Korea forward Lee Kang-in have netted twice each.

France right winger Ousmane Dembélé has chipped in with a goal and two assists for the defending champion, while new signing João Neves leads the league with three assists.

Kolo Muani and Dembélé continued their form with France, each scoring on Monday in a 2-0 win against Belgium in the Nations League.

Behind the forwards, Portugal's Vitinha and France's Warren Zaïre-Emery form a solid midfield pairing along with the 19-year-old Neves, an offseason signing from Portuguese side Benfica.

For now, it seems like Mbappé's absence is being felt more keenly off the field than on it.

On Wednesday, he rejected a mediation offer by the French soccer league’s legal commission in his dispute with PSG over wages and bonuses.

PSG officials and Mbappé’s representatives met in Paris after Mbappé asked the commission to get involved. Mbappé, who joined Madrid on a free transfer, says the club owes him 55 million euros ($60 million). PSG said it was pleased with how the commission hearing went.

While PSG's power struggle with its ex-striker continues, PSG's current crop of forwards look for more goals when the team hosts Brest on Saturday before facing Spanish side Girona on Wednesday when the Champions League starts.

Mbappé is expected to make his European debut for Madrid the previous night, at home to Stuttgart.

He never won Europe's most prestigious club prize with PSG, but most observers would argue he has a far better chance of doing so with record 15-time champion Madrid.

At some point this season, their paths may cross again on the field.