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00:00Alright everyone, it is finally time for one of the most anticipated races of 2024, and
00:09really, it's one of the most anticipated clashes of the 2020s.
00:12It's the Women's 100m Olympic Finals in this year's Paris Games.
00:18This race carries with it a huge amount of expectations, as the previous couple of seasons
00:22have brought forth some of the fastest 100m times in history.
00:27But this race also carries with it a potential changing of the guard in the Women's 100.
00:32No American woman has won this race since 1996, when Gail Devers from the US brought
00:38home the gold medal in the Atlanta Games.
00:41But ever since that day, now almost 30 years ago, there has been an empty spot on the top
00:46of the podium for a US athlete.
00:48This brings us to the exciting prospects of this 2024 season, because despite the Jamaicans
00:55absolutely dominating this event for the previous couple of decades, one athlete from
00:59the US has risen to the very top of the sprinting scene this season.
01:03And this athlete is Sha'Carri Richardson.
01:06Moving into this year's Olympic Finals, Richardson's 100m season has been as close
01:10to spotless as it could be.
01:12She won her season opener at the Pre-Classic with a dominant win in 10.83.
01:17She then dropped a world-leading time at this year's United States Olympic Trials with
01:21a performance of 10.71.
01:24And then in the opening round of these Olympic Games, she cruised her way through with a
01:29time of 10.94, a breezy and clutch performance that left the world wondering just how fast
01:35she could run.
01:36It is no exaggeration to say that Sha'Carri is the overwhelming favorite right now in
01:41the Women's 100m for the gold medal.
01:43And when I asked all of you about this yesterday in our most recent poll, here is what you
01:48had to say about this race.
01:50As you can see, Richardson has an absolutely massive lead in this poll here, holding almost
01:55three quarters of the vote against some of the best sprinters in the world.
01:59But then, coming in with the second most votes is Shellyann Fraser-Price with 20% of the
02:04votes.
02:05Now, as we mentioned in our previous video, if Shellyann can somehow pull off this gold
02:10medal victory, she will become even more of a legend, because she will become the first
02:14and only woman to ever win three Olympic gold medals in the 100.
02:18And this potential three gold medal winning streak would stretch over the course of 16
02:23years.
02:24Now, beyond the clash of Sha'Carri and Shellyann, we have Julianne Alfred looking strong, Melissa
02:29Jefferson looking to crack into the medals, and do not sleep on Audrey LaDuke from Canada,
02:35who broke the Canadian national record earlier this season, and she also broke it again in
02:39these opening heats, achieving a speedy time of 10.95.
02:44There is honestly no single race with more hype in this year's Olympic Games, so without
02:48further ado, let's see how this race unfolded.
02:53Even before the semi-finals began, one of the worst possible things imaginable was published
02:58online, and that's that Shellyann Fraser-Price from Jamaica has officially dropped out of
03:03this Women's 100.
03:04There's no real explanation as to exactly why this happened, but there was something
03:09strange that happened just before the semi-finals, when both Sha'Carri Richardson and Shellyann
03:14Fraser-Price were not being allowed in the warm-up area.
03:18This video right here was circulating, with Fraser-Price expressing frustration given
03:22the fact that they were not allowed in this area, and it was strange because the day before,
03:27they were in fact allowed to go through this gate.
03:29This is still a developing story, so there's still a lot to learn about this situation.
03:34But for now, it is official that Shellyann Fraser-Price is not running in this Women's
03:39100.
03:40Honestly, I'm feeling kind of gutted.
03:42This is a huge loss, and it's honestly hard to move forward through this.
03:46But either way, let's go to the semis and see what happened in this race.
03:50Now for the opening race, we saw Melissa Jefferson pull off a magnificent win, winning the opening
03:55round in 10.99.
03:57It was supposed to be Richardson, Alfred, and Fraser-Price, but sadly it was just Sha'Carri
04:01Richardson and Shellyann Alfred competing, both placing first and second, with times
04:06of 10.84 and 10.89.
04:08Honestly, Alfred looked very strong here, and her start per usual was very powerful.
04:14However, one of the biggest surprises from this entire semifinals was Tia Clayton, who
04:19absolutely dominated the third heat in 10.89 seconds.
04:24And this kind of time for a 19-year-old in the Olympic Games is honestly amazing.
04:29Here is the full list in the Women's 100 moving into the finals.
04:33We've got Julianne Alfred, Sha'Carri Richardson, Tia Clayton, Daryl Nita, Melissa Jefferson,
04:38Marie-Josée Toulouse-Smith, Mujinga Kambunji, and Tanisha Terry.
04:42Still feels surreal that Shellyann Fraser-Price is not in this race.
04:46But now, we officially have the finals set, and here is how this tremendously anticipated
04:52race unfolded.
04:53After a fair start, it was Julianne Alfred from St. Lucia who got away from this field
04:58like a rocket, and given her 60-meter abilities, this was no surprise.
05:03Unfortunately, Sha'Carri Richardson did suffer from a rather subpar start, and this
05:08meant that Julianne Alfred was absolutely uncatchable.
05:13With a performance of 10.72 seconds, Julianne Alfred is now the Olympic champion, and she
05:19is also St. Lucia's very first athlete to ever win a medal in any Olympic event.
05:24And the fact that she got gold is just crazy.
05:26This was a huge performance from this amazing St. Lucian athlete.
05:30Now finishing in second was Sha'Carri Richardson, and finishing in third, grabbing her first
05:34international medal, was Melissa Jefferson.
05:37So the U.S. did get two medals here, and this is amazing because they both train under the
05:42same coach.
05:43But today completely belongs to Julianne Alfred.
05:46And most of the time, Julianne is not too emotional after races.
05:50She's rather calm, rather collected, but given the circumstances and this unbelievable moment,
05:55it made sense that she got emotional.
05:57It was one of the most clutch wins of the game so far.
06:00Julianne Alfred is now the 2024 Olympic champion.
06:04Thanks for watching everyone, and as always, until next time.