Reigning world 100m champion Sha’Carri Richardson endured a disappointing start to her 2025 season, finishing fourth at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo on Sunday.
Australia’s rising star Bree Rizzo stole the spotlight, claiming a memorable victory in 11.38 seconds (-0.9 m/s), edging out American Twanisha Terry who clocked 11.42 to finish second. Richardson crossed the line in 11.47, in what was a subdued performance by her standards.
The race marked Richardson’s return to competition for the first time since September, when she placed last at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels with a time of 11.23 seconds. It also marked the 25-year-old’s first time opening her season outside the United States.
In the men’s 100m event, Japan’s Hiroki Yanagita thrilled the home crowd with a narrow victory, stopping the clock at 10.06 seconds. He was followed closely by American Christian Miller (10.08), while world indoor 60m champion Christian Coleman—Richardson’s boyfriend and training partner—settled for third place in 10.11 seconds.
Despite a rocky start to 2025, Richardson remains focused on the bigger picture—defending her world title later this year in Tokyo. The American sprint queen enjoyed a remarkable 2024 campaign, highlighted by a blistering 10.83-second run at the Prefontaine Classic, a silver medal at the Paris Olympics in 10.87, and a gold in the 4x100m relay with Team USA.
With the Seiko Golden Grand Prix now in the rear-view mirror, both Sha’Carri Richardson and Coleman will return to training to fine-tune their 2025 season form ahead of the World Athletics Championships, set to take place in the Japanese capital this September.
Other Results ; Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi Shines
Ukraine’s world and Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh won the women’s high jump with a leap of 1.96m, far below her world record of 2.10m. She also won at both Diamond League meetings in China at Xiamen and Shanghai/Keqiao in the past month.
Japan’s world and Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi won the women’s javelin with a throw of 64.16m. American Robert Gregory won the men’s 200m in 20.24sec ahead of Canada’s Andre de Grasse, who won gold at the same stadium at the pandemic-postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Meanwhile, Italy’s Massimo Stano broke the men’s 35km race walk world record with a time of two hours, 20 minutes and 43 seconds at the European Race Walking Team Championships in Podebrady on May 18.
Stano, who won gold in men’s 20km race walk at the Tokyo Olympics and finished fourth at the Paris Games, shaved 57 seconds off the previous record set by Canada’s Evan Dunfee less than two months ago.
