Sha'Carri Richardson's controversial SF race at World Athletics Championships 2025: False start, missing automatic qualification & more

American athlete Sha'Carri Richardson faced a debacle during her Women's 100m semifinals held on the second day of World Athletics Championships. Earlier in her heats, the 100m defending champion had won her race after beating Shericka Jackson.

However during the first semifinals of the 100m race on the second day of the competition Richardson faced a tumble in the start of her race and also had a false start. However, she received a green card from the officials as several athelt8ij the race has a similar start.

This landed Sha'Carri Richardson third in the race in a season best run time of 11.00 seconds, behind Marie Josee Ta Lou-Smith and Jackson.

This refers that the reigning 100m World Champion will not get an automatic qualification to the finals and will have to wait to see if her run time is among the two fastest run times (expect the run times of the athletes who gained automatic qualification spots) of the entire semis. Richardson eventually qualified for the finals courtesy of this rule while Lou-Smith and Jackson took automatic final spots from the first semifinals in which Richardson competed.

This is a big setback for Sha'Carri Richardson who has been going through a disappointing season which has been flooded with injuries. Her results of the races before the Worlds were not quite impressive except the Zurich Diamond League finals where she clinched a second-place finish.

Sha'Carri Richardson made her feelings known after winning her heats at the 2025 World Athletics Championships

Sha'Carri Richardson shared her thoughts after winning the heats and beating the likes of Shericka Jackson. Her run time in this race was 11.03 seconds.

Richardson admitted that her season so far in 2025 hasn't been satisfactory but with her eyes on the gold in Tokyo she is aiming to go big. She said ( via ESPN India):

"I know that this year is not what I ideally saw as being my golden year," she said. "But when I think of 'golden' now, I think of buried treasure, and sometimes you've got to dig through the dirt to get to the gold."

After her qualification to the finals, Richardson will face a stacked field to defend her 100m title. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Jackson are some of the athletes who can pose a tough fight to her. The finals are scheduled to take place later on the second day of the event.