100 metres, Women

This event was hampered by the absence of Elaine Thompson-Herah (JAM), gold medalist in 2016-20, and by injuries to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, her teammate, who started but withdrew from the semi-finals due to a hamstring injury. Tokyo bronze medalist Shericka Jackson won the Jamaican trials and was selected for the Jamaican team, but she had to withdraw through injury during the Games. In their absence, the focus was on American Sha’Carri Richardson, Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred, Ivorian Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith, and Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith.

Asher-Smith did not make it to the final, finishing fifth in her semi-final heat, but the other three favorites made it through. Melissa Jefferson (USA) won the first semi, while Alfred took semi two, defeating Richardson, who could not catch Alfred after a poor start. Jamaican teen Tia Clayton won the final semi.

The final was held on a wet track just after a rainstorm, which affected the inside lanes more because of the stadium overhang. Alfred had a good start but Richardson had a dismal one, with a reaction time of 0.221 seconds, and was still seventh after 40m. Tia Clayton had a very good start and was second to Alfred after 20m but then faded away to finish seventh. Mujinga Kambundji (SUI) also had a pretty good start and was still in second position at mid-race when Richardson passed her. Jefferson passed Kambudji for third place at 70-80m. That was the race between the two favorites, as Richardson never got closer to Alfred, who led the race from the start to the end.

Alfred’s gold was the first ever Olympic medal for the island nation of Saint Lucia. She would add to it a few days later with a silver in the 200 metres. Both Richardson and Jefferson would add to their medal chest with golds in the 4x100 relay.