Sha'Carri Richardson and Julien Alfred to meet for first time since Paris 2024 at Zurich Diamond League
The top two from Paris 2024 are set for a rematch, while European champion Dina Asher-Smith will also race after a disappointing individual Olympic outing at the Stade de France.
Athletics
The Olympic 100m gold and silver medallists Julien Alfred and Sha'Carri Richardson are set to face off against each other next week at the Weltklasse Zurich Diamond League track and field meet on 5 September.
It'll be the first time since the Paris 2024 final on 3 August at the Stade de France, and a first chance for world champion Richardson to rematch Alfred, who won Saint Lucia's first two Olympic medals ever in Paris.
That night, Alfred became her country's first Olympic champion when she made the most of a fast start under the Parisian rain to hold off a charging Richardson, who had to overcome a slow reaction out of the blocks to make up ground.
Richardson has made slow starts somewhat of a bad habit, stumbling at the start of the U.S. Olympic Trials – which she came back to win – as well as having to come from behind to overtake both Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson en route to winning gold at last year's World Championships.
But there was to be no successful comeback from that slow start in Paris – although Richardson did go on to anchor the U.S. women's sprint relay to 4x100m gold in another stunning down-but-not-out victory, as she moved from fourth to first on her leg.
"It was a phenomenal feeling for all of us," she said of finally getting her hands on Olympic gold.
In this rematch with Alfred, Richardson and her St. Lucian rival will also get to take on European champion Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain after the latter surprisingly missed out on making the Olympic final in Paris.
Asher-Smith finished fifth in her semi-final heat at the Stade de France, depriving her of a chance to test herself against Richardson and Alfred.
Switzerland's Mujinga Kambundji, sixth in the Paris final, is also set to star in the Weltklasse 100m on home soil.