Gateshead (United Kingdom) (AFP)

With her look and her amazing lap times, the young American Sha'Carri Richardson (21) is the phenomenon of the start of the season.

Two months before the Olympic Games, she rubbed shoulders for the first time with the world leaders in the 100m outside her country, Sunday at the opening of the Diamond League in Gateshead.

Twenty-five years that the United States have been hoping for a coronation at the Olympics on the straight line, since the victory of Gail Devers in Atlanta in 1996. This is to say the expectation aroused by the sudden outbreak of the sprinter from Dallas, charged to end the dominance of the Jamaican women in Tokyo and to re-establish the supremacy of the star-spangled banner over the distance.

Unknown to the general public until then, the pocket runner (1.55 m) revealed herself in April by becoming the 6th fastest woman in history (10 sec 72), strikingly positioning herself as the main rival of the two arrows from Jamaica, Olympic champions Elaine Thompson (2016) and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (2008, 2012).

Richardson had already started to be talked about in 2019 during the University Championships (NCAA) where she had broken in succession the junior world records of the 100 m (10 sec 75) and the 200 m (22 sec 18).

Having gone professional in the process, the student from LSU (University of Louisiana) had however seen her progress stopped dead by an 8th place in the formidable "Trials", preventing her from qualifying for the Worlds in Doha.

The Covid-19 pandemic then delayed its entry on the international circuit, which it only discovered this week while playing in Ostrava its very first meeting outside the United States.

After Gateshead on Sunday where she will face Fraser-Pryce and Briton Dina Asher-Smith, her tour will continue in Qatar for the 2nd stop of the Diamond League on May 28.

Cheeky and sure of herself, Richardson does not hide it and hammers it at each exit: she "wants to write history".

"I want everyone to know that every time I step on the track, it will be an incredible show," she said last month.

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- Difficult childhood -

She added a layer on Tuesday in Ostrava on the eve of the Czech meeting where she easily won over 200 m (22 sec 35).

"I want to inspire respect. What I'm doing and what I've been doing lately is historic. I don't set limits for myself. With good weather, good wind and perfect conditions. execution, the lap times will be unbelievable no matter what. There are no records that are impossible to beat, "she said confidently.

Abandoned by her mother and raised by her grandmother, she had a difficult childhood, marked by a suicide attempt in high school.

But she was able to forge a mind of steel thanks to the help of a psychologist, who continues to follow her.

If the world record of the sulphurous Florence Griffith-Joyner (10 sec 49 in 1988) seems inaccessible, Richardson can, in view of his precocity, aim for the bar of 10 sec 70, only crossed by three athletes (Griffith-Joyner, Carmelita Jeter, Marion Jones).

The comparison with "Flo-Jo", his idol, does not frighten him.

She's already adopted the look with her manicured nails, bleached hair, tattoos and piercings.

As for the world record, the one trained by the former American sprinter Dennis Mitchell prefers for the moment to moderate the ardor: "It is part of the objectives of my career but you have to be patient".

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While waiting to follow in the footsteps of Griffith-Joyner, there is one subject with which this runner with a strong character does not compromise: her first name.

In Ostrava, she did not hesitate to pick up journalists on the fly when they had the misfortune to flay her.

"My name is unique and I will correct each time anyone who does not pronounce it correctly", she let go of the dark gaze.

On or off the track, don't look too much for Sha'Carri Richardson.

© 2021 AFP