Cravont Charleston surged past 2019 world champion Christian Coleman to win the men’s 100m at the US athletics championships on Friday as Sha’Carri Richardson won the women’s 100m to book her World Championships berth.
The 25-year-old Charleston, who had never made it to the 100m final at a US championships before, clocked 9.95sec to edge Coleman by one one-hundredth of a second with reigning 200m world champion Noah Lyles third in 10.00sec.
The trio will join reigning world champion Fred Kerley in the event at the World Championships in Budapest in August, trying to repeat the US sweep at last year’s worlds in Eugene.
The two other members of the 2022 podium won’t be there. Marvin Bracy-Williams’s hopes of improving on his world silver evaporated when he was injured in the heats and failed to advance while bronze medallist Trayvon Bromell, racing through a painful bone spur on his right heel, finished sixth in the final and said he would soon be seeking surgery.
Richardson booked her first world championships berth with an emotional 100m victory in 10.82sec.
She couldn’t match the fireworks of her personal best 10.71 of Thursday’s heats — which stood as the top time in the world this year for a day before Shericka Jackson’s 10.65 to win at the Jamaican championships on Friday.
Richardson overcame a slow start and pulled away late, Brittany Brown finishing second in 10.90sec with Tamari Davis third in 10.99.
“I’m ready mentally, physically and emotionally, and I’m here to stay,” Richardson told broadcaster NBC after she had climbed into the stands to embrace a number of people.
The win was a vindication of sorts for Richardson, who was infamously barred from the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 after testing positive for marijuana.
She then saw her hopes of competing for a medal at last year’s World Championships vanish when she bombed out of the US trials.
“I’m not back,” Richardson said. “I’m better.”
