Tiger Track & Field Wins Big at World Championships

A handful of former Tigers made LSU’s track and field program proud at the World Athletic Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Former LSU sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson was the biggest winner, winning gold in the 100 meter dash, anchoring the United States to gold in the 4x100, and taking the bronze in the 200 meter dash.

Richardson won the 100 meter dash and claimed her first ever gold medal as a professional. Richardson won with a 10.65 which is both a World Championship record and the fifth fastest time in world history.

“I feel amazing about my performance,” Richardson said after the 100 meter dash. “Amazing competition, amazing atmosphere, and doing what I did all season long at practice to accomplish what we need to get accomplished. I felt like being in lane nine allowed me to just focus in on what I needed to execute. I felt no matter what the result was from start to finish in that race, I executed and I was going to be happy no matter what the result was.”

Four days after winning her first gold, she picked up the bronze medal in the 200 meter dash.

The next day, Richardson claimed a second gold thanks to helping the United States best Jamaica in the 4x100 relay.

Richardson was set to compete in the Tokyo Olympics but a positive test for marijuana resulted in her being suspended from the Games. But now Richardson is back, she’s reclaimed her throne and hopefully next summer in Paris she’ll be able to capture Olympic gold.

Speaking of reclaiming a throne, Mondo Duplantis won his second-straight gold medal in the pole vault. Competing once again for Sweden, Duplantis took the gold by clearing a distance of 6.10 meters (20 feet). It was the 50th time in his career he’s gone over six meters in competition.

JuVaugh Harrison, another former high flying Tiger, took the silver medal in the high jump. He’s the first American male to medal in the high jump since 2011 and is hoping to compete in both the high and long jump next summer in Paris.

Vernon Norwood is also coming home with some hardware as he helped the United States win gold in the 4x400 meter relay. He had the fastest leg among his teammates in the final with a time of 44.01 seconds. Norwood also finished fourth in the 400 meter dash with a time of 44.39. That is the highest individual finish at a World Championship for Norwood; and he missed the bronze medal by .02 seconds.