Gabby Thomas defeated Shacarie Richardson in the highly anticipated 200-meter final at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team Trials.
Thomas took first place with a time of 21.81 seconds. Richardson missed the 200m heat by just one second but will compete in the 100m.
Brittany Brown and Mackenzie Long, who both ran personal bests, are also scheduled to run the 200 meters in Paris.
Long, who lost his mother earlier this year, was choked up after qualifying for the race.
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“Mom, your daughter is going to Paris,” Long said after the race.
Thomas and Richardson, America’s best-known sprinters, both qualified for Tokyo in 2020, but Richardson will make his long-awaited debut this year after failing a drugs test and being disqualified from the Tokyo team.
No one came close to Richardson in Friday’s semifinals, where she tied her personal best in 21.92 seconds.
Later, running in a different heat from Richardson, Thomas raised the bar even higher with an astounding time of 21.78 seconds, the 2024 world record.
“I’m really happy,” Thomas told NBC Sports shortly after the race, “It was a really smooth and easy ride for me. I really didn’t know what to expect, so to have a really comfortable and controlled run and get that time was a good feeling.”
Starting with the Opening Ceremony on July 26 at 12pm ET, every moment and every medal from the Paris 2024 Olympics will be available to stream on Peacock.
Saturday’s action at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, included the men’s 200-meter final, won by world No. 1 Noah Lyles in a U.S. Olympic Trials record time of 19.53 seconds, making him the world leader this season.
World No. 2 Kenny Bednarek and world No. 4 Elyon Knighton are also scheduled to compete in the 200m in Paris.
Bednarek recorded a personal best time of 19.59 seconds, while Knighton recorded her season best time of 19.77 seconds.
All three are Olympians in this event: Lyles won bronze and Bednarek won silver over this distance in Tokyo.
Lyles improved on his own record Saturday with a time of 19.60 seconds in Friday’s semifinals.
“It was so easy,” Lyles said after the semifinals. “I was so shocked when I got that time, I wasn’t even trying.”
Lyles had already qualified for the 100 meters in Paris.
Earlier this week, Richardson won the 100 metres, booking a trip to Paris to compete for the title of “fastest woman in the world.”
Richardson, a Dallas native and Louisiana State University graduate, tested positive for THC after qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics and was unable to compete.
She has admitted to taking the drug to help her cope with the death of her mother, and her supporters have slammed the US Anti-Doping Agency’s policy on marijuana at a time when the drug is becoming legal across the United States.
Thomas, a Harvard alumnus, won the bronze medal in the 200 meters in Tokyo. She and Richardson are ranked No. 2 and No. 6 in the world, respectively, in the event.
Jamaica’s Sherica Jackson, who will compete in the national trials in Kingston this weekend, won a gold medal at the last Olympic Games.
Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Raven Sanders qualified for her third Olympic Games in the shot put on Saturday.
Other finals on Saturday included the men’s and women’s 20-kilometer race walk, men’s discus, women’s long jump, women’s shot put and women’s 10,000-meter dash.
