Did Sha'Carri choke in 200 or is she just a pure 100 runner?

What nobody seems to have commented on is the technical glitch she has in her start within the first three steps out of the blocks. Occasionally, she'll step almost sideways in one of those first three steps, which directs her momentum nearly sideways. By the time she takes the next step she's lost so much forward momentum it costs her several tenths of a second. This technical glitch doesn't happen every race, but it does rear it's ugly head in both the 100m and 200m. I'd equate it to a Greg Norman yipped putt, or a Chuck Knoblauch overthrown baseball. Uncanny, unexplainable, unpredictable, but always a threat to derail her race at the most inopportune moments. If she didn't take that bizarre sidestep in the finals, she looked to he in 21.8x fitness based on her earlier rounds.

You make good points, especially about her being a global medalist last year and how great she looked in the semi. In response to your question on how many 2023 medalists didn’t make the Olympic team, I ask: how many countries are as stacked in any event as we are in the women’s 200? As they mentioned on the broadcast, the fastest 9 women in the world this year are all Americans.

I don’t think it’s a choke job because SCR didn’t have much pressure to make the event. She already made the team in her primary event, it’s well known she’s not as good in the 200 as she is in the 100, and she was not expected to win the 100-200 double in Paris. She wasn’t even expected to win last night. Gabby Thomas was the favorite.

I think it’s fair to say SCR wasn’t at her best last night, but it wasn’t a horrible performance. Her 22.16 while easing up at the end matches the best time this year by a non-US woman, Julien Alfred.

Let’s also give credit to the ladies who beat her. The US women’s 200 team is one of the most difficult teams in the world to make, and the ladies who made it all had fantastic races. It took a 21.91 to make the team. We are incredibly strong in this event, and Thomas, Brown, and Long are deserving Olympians.

She knew the top three were ahead of her on her right, she came to the line with the same demeanor as the rounds when she was pulling up the last few strides. She showed the same inconsistency she had in the 100m until recently. Her start in the 100m still remains weak and inconsistent but her top end is stellar at this point. So I wouldn’t say she chocked because she has yet to prove anything in the 200m and I’m not counting a bronze because when you jog in a 21 high, you can see the parts are there- she is small and compact to handle the turn and a monster on the straight away, yet, she appears too stiff for the turn and unable to handle the power she can produce.

I feel like she slowed down on purpose so Long could make the team.

Good thing she’s not doubling,the Olympic schedule for women sprints is brutal.No breaks.The 100 final is on Saturday, then have to run 200 heats on Sunday,Semi Mon and final Tuesday.That is five straight days of running.Brutal.

Sprinters.are squirrelly at the top level. Is this her way of dodging a loss to Sharicka in Paris, just take on the Jamaicans "one-and-done".in her signature event to maintain dominance?

If you watch the slow motion of the final meters -- she is leaning back and braking before the finish. She could have given more.

Watching her pretty close up in real life was kind of eye opening. She has one of the most interesting running styles/forms I've ever seen. Get's upright very early and kind of looks like she is running on the spot.

She is so heavily muscled in her legs that they don't go forwards in a straight line - they kind of angle out. In the 200 semis I was right behind the 100m start at track level and from front and behind it was honestly weird to see.

She is a good 200m runner - not as good compared to the 100m obviously, but still good. I think a huge thing that impacted her yesterday was the yellow flag warning about stepping on the line. When she started that 200m final she clearly pushed out very wide in her to get nowhere near the inside line - with her odd mechanics I think that out behind the 8-ball so to speak and she doesn't have the type of form that so easily can recover.

Exceptional in the 100 and very good in the 200 - she was not going to win but she gotten top 3

I don't think she was jogging, she was full gas 80-90% of the race, and she has a +1.6 wind in her semi final race vs only 0.6 in the final, so a few hundredths there. So she had to run faster than her semi final performance to make the team, but she didn't take it up another level like a few other athletes did. Two of the runners ahead of her have medals in that event, they're very good at the 200. It's not like she got beat by scrubs.

She has a fierce finish in the 100, but she seldom runs the homestretch of a 200 as well as the real 200 stars (Shericka, Gabby, probably also McKenzie Long and a healthy Abby Steiner). She didn't get a good start, maybe because she was freaked out by the yellow card, or maybe for the normal reason that her start is sometimes bad, and unlike the 100, she can't turn it up enough in the 200 to beat the best off of a mediocre start.

heats not semi final

I don't think this is too complicated.

1) As you mentioned, it's the toughest team to make and her PR wasn't even quicker than 3rd place in that race (21.92 vs 21.91 for a spot on the team)

2) But this is the key one - she was clearly affected by the yellow card-warning situation. Watch her out of the blocks in that final - she goes straight right just to safeguard getting close to that line and runs the entire bend clearly thinking about where she is stepping vs the things she should be thinking about in a 200m final.

3) This ties into this point - with her running style/form, which is very upright and robotic, she is never going to do well put under a ton of pressure. So that race was the perfect sh-t storm for her - she gets to 100m with Thomas and Brown well up on her and Long in the outside lane fractionally ahead. That's not a good scenario for her. By the time an extremely motivated Long has increased that lead to maybe a yard or so with 50 to go she just mails it in.

Hey I'm not a massive SCR fan but this wasn't a shocking result or even close to some catastrophic capitulation here.

You still have time to delete this

Please does not spread hate, sexism, racism, misinformation and bigotry. Please does not. We is not need sexism and misinformation on LRC.

Both. She got a terrible start but she’s a 100m runner. She was good enough to take third in that race tho

Where was Kerley in the men’s 200ms? Did he not run? I missed the prelims

Did SCR make the 200M team? Did she not run out of gas at 150M as usual? I think you should take your advice.

What on earth are you on about for Pete's sake. FFS, Richardson appears to be 4 feet and change. Gabby is 5'11", Jackson is 5'8". It is a fact that Richardson had a boob job. It is a fact that Richardson does not have the stride length and the speed endurance to be competitive in the 200M. It is a fact that she rocks from side to side at 150M as her legs are giving out on her. For some strange reason some of you are willfully blind to the obvious. I wilfully refuse not to be.