Sha'Carri Richardson handed successive defeat by Great Britain's sprinting ace in Suzhou

Sha'Carri Richardson handed successive defeat by Great Britain's sprinting ace in Suzhou

Abigael Wafula 15:47 - 27.04.2024

Sha'carri Richardson failed to live up to expectations again after being handed her second defeat of the season by Great Britain's sprinting queen.

Reigning World champion Sha’Carri Richardson failed to live up to the billing once more at the Diamond League Meeting in Suzhou, China where she was beaten by Great Britain’s Daryll Neita.

Neita took the top prize after clocking a season-best time of 22.62 to cross the finish line as Richardson faded to finish in third place, clocking 23.11 to cross the finish line. The time she clocked was slower than her 22.99 last week where she finished second at the Diamond League Meeting in Xiamen.

Richardson went into the race as a pre-race favourite and was hoping to bounce back from her loss to the 19-year-old but things did not work out as she had planned. Another American, Anavia Battle finished second in the hotly contested race.

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Following her previous loss to Torrie Lewis, the 24-year-old admitted that she was a bit nervous after starting her season a bit late. She explained that, however, she observed what did not work out for her and would bounce back stronger.

However, her performance in Suzhou will raise more eyebrows since the World 200m bronze medallist also failed to impress. She will now be forced to go back to the drawing board and analyse what happened.

Meanwhile, Neita was only competing in her first individual race of the season after having a great build-up with the indoor races and the relays.

She teamed up with her compatriots to compete at the X Athletic Elite Meeting in Italy in the 4x400m relay and won the race. During her indoor campaign, she competed in two races, the Meeting in Paris and the ISTAF Indoor 2024 event.

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