Track star Sha’Carri Richardson’s ascent in the world of athletics is nothing short of meteoric and is setting up the Dallas native for a lucrative career as an athlete. Gearing up for her first Olympics, she hopes her tremendous speed can shift the narrative around her and the Games.
All About Sha’Carri
From her early days on the track at David W. Carter High School in Dallas to her history-nabbing performances on the national and global stage, Richardson has established herself as one of the most promising talents in track and field.
To put it in perspective, as a freshman at Louisiana State University, she ran 10.75 seconds to break the 100-meter collegiate record at the NCAA Division I Championships.
Inspired by Florence Griffith-Joyner, Richardson’s flamboyant style features long colorful hair and nails, blending athletic prowess with individuality. Her unique look has become her trademark, reflecting both her athletic excellence and youthful spirit.
The 24-year-old’s financial success is as impressive as her athletic achievements. On Forbes’ 30 under 30 for 2024, her various endorsement deals are stacking up, and most likely to increase after her Paris Olympics showing.
Her wealth stems from her track and field career and lucrative endorsement deals with major brands like Nike, Beats, and Apple Music.
In early 2024, rumors swirled about her securing an alleged $20 million five-year deal with Nike. This has never been confirmed.
However, Richardson did become the face of the Nike x Jacquemus Spring 2024 collection, a collaboration with French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus. The NBC Olympics website stated that Nike also sponsors her, sharing that she wore Nike’s Air Zoom Mayfly spikes at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
If she takes home the first place medal in Paris, she will also come home richer. Track and field athletes who win gold at the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris will receive an additional $50,000, World Athletics recently announced. This makes track and field the first sport to introduce prize money at the Olympics, CBS Sports reported.
Financial security has been important to Richardson since childhood. She grew up with her grandmother Betty Harp, after being abandoned by her mother.
Harp, with the assistance of her daughter, Richardson’s aunt, raised the track star, whose victories belong just as much to the matriarchs as to the runner.
Despite not being raised by her mother, her death in 2021, just before the Olympic Trials, was a significant emotional blow, but it didn’t deter Richardson from her goals.
Her talent was evident early on, as she competed in the US Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Junior Olympics in 2016, winning the 100-meter race in her age group. She was later recruited to Louisiana State University, where she joined the LSU Lady Tigers track and field team in 2018.
During her time at LSU, Richardson reached the finals of the 2019 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships. She made her breakthrough by winning the 100-meter race at the 2019 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, setting world under-20 records in the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints and becoming one of the top 10 fastest women in history.
After her freshman year she turned pro. After a 2020 season in which world track competition was curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2021 she set her sights on the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. In June of that year she won the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 10.86 seconds, but before the meet was over she was excluded from the Tokyo Olympics due to a suspension. Richardson was suspended by the USA Anti-Doping Agency following a positive test for a banned substance, marijuana.
Two years later, she led the 100-meter world rankings, won the U.S. national championship, and claimed her first major international title in Budapest with a time of 10.65 seconds in the 100 meter final at the World Championships. She followed this up gold medal with a bronze in the women’s 200-meter final with a time of 21.92.
Richardson is now headed to the Olympics for the first time after winning the women’s 100-meter final at the U.S. Olympic Trials. She secured her spot by clocking a world-leading 10.71 seconds on June 22 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Richardson, now the fastest woman in the world, is poised to bring home the gold for the nation.
