Sha’Carri Richardson showed dominance in her anchor leg for the U.S. women in the 4x100m relay on Friday and finally has her golden moment.
The Americans braved the rain inside Stade de France and won Olympic gold in 41.78 seconds, just .07 seconds past Great Britain, with Germany taking the bronze.
But the role of savior was clearly on Richardson, who won silver a week ago in the women’s 100m final.
Team USA was in third place by the time she took the baton from Gabby Thomas and Richardson erased the deficit with 50m remaining. A pair of sloppy passed by the British runners helped set the stage for her final leg.
“I was very comfortable with” this team,” Richardson said. “I just remember trusting Gabby and knowing that she’s going to put this thing in my hand no matter what.
On the final turn Richardson was in control and casually looked to the right to confirm that she had a comfortable gap across the finish line.
Rounding out the gold medal winning squad were Twanisha Terry and Melissa Jefferson.
Thomas and Terry had a shaky exchange in qualifying but cleaned up their baton pass in the final in time for Richardson’s come-from-behind win.
“Passing the baton to Sha’Carri is a very special and unique thing,” Thomas said. “She’s so fast and we know we’re in good hands as soon as she gets her hands on the baton.”
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