Disappointment Continues for Sha’Carri Richardson, Noah Lyles & Others as They Suffer Another Big Miss
Is Sha’Carri Richardson’s career in jeopardy after another disappointing performance? What’s your take?
Let’s go back to the 2023 World Championships. Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles were on top of the world, having dominated their events. Two golds for Sha’Carri and three for Noah. So, coming into the Olympics this year, the expectations were quite high.
But before they failed to accomplish part of their goals in Paris, a track and field legend had made a striking remark, one that seems to have resonated in a list that Sports Illustrated recently released.
In April, Michael Johnson tweeted, “Reporter just said ‘track & field lacks personalities like [Usain] Bolt, Carl [Lewis], and you.’ My personality wasn’t nearly as exciting as Noah, Sha’Carri, Shelley-Ann, Karston, or Jakob.
There isn’t a lack of personalities. Problem is the sport is no longer a platform for great personalities.” Lyles and Richardson may have the aura that athletes like Bolt and Flo Jo once possessed, but the sport isn’t the same anymore.
So, when Sports Illustrated revealed its list of the 50 most influential figures and driving forces in sports this year, Sha’Carri and Noah didn’t make it.
And after a season of ups and downs, their rather disappointing track record (no pun intended) seems to have continued… But before getting to the list, let’s go back a couple of days. And a couple of weeks.
This season has been a rollercoaster for Sha’Carri Richardson. But she couldn’t quite end it on a high, one she certainly felt after the 4x100m final at the Olympics.
At the Diamond League finals in Brussels, the 24-year-old settled for eighth place in the 100m with an 11.23, subsequently withdrawing from the 200m event the following day and ending her season. As for Noah Lyles, he didn’t make an appearance at all.
Polls of the day
Poll 1 of 5
Absolutely
Not at all
Somewhat
No opinion
At the Paris Games, Lyles contracted COVID-19 before the 200m final – the event he was most looking forward to, hoping to redeem himself after his bronze in Tokyo.
However, he fell short yet again and had to settle for third with a time of 19.70. Due to his diagnosis, the 27-year-old withdrew from his last event—the 4x100m relay.
Making an appearance at the US Open finals in New York, Lyles said, “I ended my season. We decided that after the COVID situation, we are just going to call it there.”
Fast forward to now, and Sports Illustrated’s second annual list of the most influential figures in sports featured titans from all across the world – the who’s who, from icons and athletes to executives and dealmakers – featured in four categories: Icons, Executives, Influencers, and Athletes – those who “push limits, redefine success and have an outsized impact between and outside the lines.”
Considering everything that USATF athletes have achieved this year – not just Lyles and Richardson – you would’ve thought they would’ve made it.
But much to the track and field fans’ dismay, even after boasting supreme athletic prowess in this season’s events, it didn’t feature any track and field athletes!
Take Lyles, for instance. In what was the closest 100m finish in Olympic history, Noah Lyles clinched the gold in front of a thunderous crowd at Stade de France, edging out Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by o.oo5 seconds.
Coming into Paris, while he may not have had the world-leading time in the 100m (or the 200m), he did shave off two-hundredths of his personal best at the London Diamond League (9.81 seconds), further bettering it at the Olympics.
Did you know he finished on the podium in every race he entered in 2024? This might lead one to wonder… could this have been a faux pas?
