Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce - ShaCarri Richardson THROW DOWN In Womens 100 Meters 2024 Olympics
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00:00After months and months of waiting, we have finally arrived at the track and field sessions
00:08of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
00:11It has felt like a lifetime waiting for this event.
00:15There are so many tremendous athletes to look forward to in this year's Olympic Games,
00:20from legendary sprinters to absolute goats of the field events.
00:24And while this week will be full of endless drama and super exciting performances, we
00:29have already seen some incredible action over the opening few hours of this first day.
00:35One of the biggest stories in this year's Olympics is the potential changing of the
00:39guard in the 100 meters, and this specifically applies to the women's 100, and the single
00:45woman at the forefront of this historic dynamic is certainly Sha'Carri Richardson from the
00:50United States.
00:52Going all the way back to 1996, no United States athlete has won the Olympic gold in
00:58this event, marking a nearly three-decade-long stretch of vacancy atop the Olympic podium,
01:05and the primary reason for this 28-year-old dry spell is because of two absolute legends
01:10from the small island of Jamaica.
01:12In 2008 and 2012, Shelley Anne Fraser-Price won the Olympic gold medals in the women's
01:18100, and following this in 2016 and in 2020, Elaine Thompson-Hera from Jamaica again won
01:25the Olympic gold medals as well.
01:27The sheer dominance of these two Jamaicans goes so much further than just Olympic running,
01:32but when it comes to the Games, their reign as the world's greatest earned them both
01:36the most exclusive hardware in track and field, and looking at the most recent installment
01:41of the Olympics, Thompson-Hera set the Olympic record in Tokyo, running a scorching time
01:47of 10.61 seconds for the win, a time that took down the previous Olympic record of Florence
01:53Griffith-Joiner going all the way back to 1988.
01:57Now unfortunately, Thompson-Hera is actually out with injury this year, and this is certainly
02:02a sad event as she was looking to become the first female to win three Olympic gold medals
02:07in the 100.
02:08However, despite being slightly older and more experienced, Shelley Anne Fraser-Price,
02:14the timeless athlete who won all the way back in 2008 and 2012, is back competing in this
02:20event, and even though she is currently 37 years old, she is already looking super strong
02:26in this year's Olympics.
02:28For the first round of this year's 100 meter dash, the fields were stacked with speed,
02:33and anyone who is anyone is out to race here.
02:36However, in the very first heat, we saw the athlete that many consider to be the favorite
02:41for the gold medal.
02:42For this opening heat, we saw Sha'Carri Richardson throw down a time of 10.94, easing
02:47away from the field and setting the standard for this year's Olympics.
02:51Honestly, Sha'Carri looked great here, and this win put her two tenths of a second over
02:56anyone else in the field, and it's also notable to mention that her reaction time
03:00was actually the slowest of the field, as she responded to the gun in two tenths of
03:04a second, and everyone else was actually easily under this two-tenth barrier, but still she
03:09was absolutely untouchable here, and she still holds the spot as one of the clear favorites.
03:15Now 10.94 seconds in the opening round is a very solid time to run, especially with
03:20a reaction like this, but this was actually not the fastest time of the day, because in
03:25the eighth and final heat of this Women's 100, we saw two legends on the track, and
03:31these athletes are Marie-José Toulouse-Smith from the Ivory Coast, and none other than
03:35Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price from Jamaica.
03:38Now for this race, Toulouse stormed to the win with a speedy time of 10.87, and finishing
03:43close behind, while shutting it down, was Fraser-Price with a time of 10.92 seconds.
03:51This put these two significantly ahead of anyone else in this field, and it actually
03:55marked a pretty significant moment for Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price.
03:59So far in this 2024 season, Price has only raced 4 times before the Olympics, and her
04:04season's best going into these games was 10.91, which she ran in this year's Jamaican
04:09Olympic Trials, but to run a time of 10.92 while looking this relaxed is honestly a tremendous
04:16sign that she might be ready to once again win another Olympic gold medal in Paris.
04:23Now to get a little bit more historic here, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price's medal winning
04:26streak actually goes all the way back to 2008.
04:29She won the gold, she won the gold again, she won a bronze in 2016, and she won a silver
04:34in 2021.
04:35So she's already achieved legend status over 4 consecutive Olympics, and with a performance
04:40like this, she actually looks even better than many realized.
04:44Now this performance from Tallulah Smith was also significant because before this race
04:48again, her season's best was 10.91, and she also ran this time in Jamaica just like
04:54Fraser-Price.
04:55Now the full list of qualifiers out of this opening round include pretty much everyone
04:59that you would expect.
05:00There's Tallulah, there's Fraser-Price, we saw Daryl Nita achieve a new season's
05:04best of 10.92, there's Sha'Carri Richardson, we saw Julian Alfred, and the other United
05:09States athletes, Melissa Jefferson and Tanisha Terry.
05:12Now it might not seem like this opening round was that impressive, as it was just a preview
05:17as to what these athletes can truly do.
05:19However, when we compare this opening day to the opening heats of 2023 in the World
05:23Championships, we can see that things are already significantly faster.
05:28For 2023, we only saw 3 athletes break 11 seconds for the opening round.
05:34But for the 2024 Olympic Games, we have already seen 8 athletes break 11.
05:39Is this the magic of the Olympic moment which pushes the adrenaline into new levels of performance?
05:44Or perhaps all of these athletes are just in better fitness?
05:48Or perhaps, as many have speculated, this purple Paris track is just ultra-speedy?
05:54Nobody can say for sure what's happening, especially given that it's only the opening
05:57rounds.
05:58But one thing is for sure, and that is that history will be made tomorrow evening on August
06:033rd, because this Saturday night in the Women's 100, we will see the finals go down, so make
06:09sure to stay tuned for that historic race.
06:12Now if Richardson can go on to win this title, she will be the first American to do so in
06:16almost 30 years.
06:18Contrary to this, if Frazier-Price can pull off the win, she will go down in history as
06:22the first and only woman to ever win 3 Olympic titles in the 100, and to do it over the course
06:27of 16 years would just be nuts.
06:30Now another big candidate is Julian Alfred, who is in the unique position to potentially
06:34become the first St. Lucian to ever win a medal in any event in the Olympics, and maybe,
06:41just maybe, she is set to get the gold.
06:44Now this opening round was certainly fun to watch, but the next step in this year's
06:48Olympics will be a semi-finals heat of absolute insane proportions, in fact many people are
06:54calling the second heat specifically the semi-finals of death, because just look at who will be
07:00competing in the same race in the semis.
07:04In this one race, we have Shelly-Frazier-Price, Sha'Carri Richardson, Julian Alfred, and
07:09if this wasn't already enough, we have Rosemary-Chukwuma from Nigeria, who holds a season's best of
07:1510.88.
07:17Now the rules in the women's 100 for the semis are simple, the first two are guaranteed
07:21a spot in the finals, and plus the fastest two out of all of the heats will also qualify
07:27into the finals, and with this rule, we potentially could see some huge drama in the semis, and
07:33I feel like this second heat also might lead to an ultra quick time.
07:38Now that's not to say that the other heats aren't also wild, because for the first
07:42heat, we have Melissa Jefferson, Shashale Forbes, Dina Asher-Smith, Evis Phoboda, and
07:47Marie-José Toulou, and for the third heat, we have even more tremendous athletes running,
07:52with Daryl Nita, Tia Clayton, Tanisha Terry, Zoe Hobbs, and Gina Lukenkemper from Germany.
07:57It is crazy to think that only 8 athletes are set to qualify into the finals, so make
08:02sure to stay tuned for tomorrow's action, which will be covered right here on this channel.
08:07And now I want to hear from all of you, what is your takeaway from this opening round,
08:11and who do you think is the favorite to win the gold medal?
08:14Do you have the legend Frasier Price, do you have Marie-José Toulou from Ivory Coast,
08:18the fastest qualifier, or do you have Sha'Carri Richardson from the United States?
08:23Thanks for watching everyone, and as always, until next time.