|
More than a million followers have taken up the
journey of the new U.S. women's 100m champion, whose brashness
and fast times have brought new interest to the sport.
Yet the 21-year-old Texan, who ran the sixth-fastest women's
time ever in April, clocking 10.72 seconds, has called on her
fans to slow down a bit when talk turns to breaking Florence
Griffith-Joyner's 1988 world record of 10.49.
"I'm not looking to rush my journey," Richardson told a virtual
media conference on Tuesday, days after winning her speciality
at the U.S. Olympic trials in 10.86.
"I am glad everybody feels like ... I can even do that (set the
world record)," she said.
"But my journey has just started. I just want to develop and
progress. It's not what the people would love for me to run,
which is as much as I would. I am not going to put that
expectation on myself and disappoint myself.
"When it is time for that time to come, it will be that time and
everybody will be there to see it.
"I am not satisfied yet."
At the Tokyo Games, Richardson will get the chance to prove
herself against Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the 2008 and
2012 Olympic 100m champion, and current gold medallist Elaine
Thompson-Herah.
Fraser-Pryce is the second fastest sprinter of all-time after
her 10.63 earlier this month and Thompson-Herah the fifth
fastest (10.70).
(Reporting by Gene Cherry; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
|
