NAIROBI, Kenya, May 5 – Fireworks are expected at the Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani on May 13 following confirmation that American sprint sensation Sha’Carri Richardson will be battling world 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica at the fourth edition of the Kip Keino Classic on the 13th of May.
The 23-year-old is among 204 international athletes who will be competing at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event, in addition to 68 local athletes who will be participating across three categories of competition include core, discretionary and national events.
While announcing her participation, Athletics Kenya’s (AK) Kennedy Tanui said Richardson’s entry guarantees that this year’s edition will not be short of entertainment on the track and field.
“When we talk about international athletes, we are talking about Olympics and world champions…they will be there. Most of us are already familiar with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who has won at the Olympics, World Championships and the Diamond League…not once or twice but severally. We will also have Sha’Carri Richardson, the fourth fastest woman in the United States, with us in the women’s 100m,” Tanui said.
Richardson is the sixth fastest sprinter in the history of the women’s 100m after she clocked 10.72 at the Miramar Invitational Games in Florida in 2021.
The feat came two years after she burst onto the athletics scene as a freshwoman, clocking 10.75 at the NCAA Championships to become the 10th fastest sprinter of all time in the women’s 100m.
Richardson was primed for a shot at the Olympic title in Tokyo but for a positive cannabis test that rendered her ineligible to represent the United States at the quadrennial games.
She will find her older Jamaican peer a different cup of tea considering Fraser-Pryce’s bulging medal cabinet.
‘Mummy rocket’ will be making her second appearance on Kenyan soil following last year’s edition of Kip Keino Classic where she clocked a world lead of 10.67 to win the women’s 100m at the same venue.
The three-time Olympic champion dropped out of the Botswana Grand Prix, held last weekend in Gaborone, due to a family emergency.
For Richardson, Kip Keino is an opportunity to redeem herself from the Botswana Grand Prix where she finished second in the women’s 200m, timing 22.54 to finish second, behind fellow American, Kayla White, who clocked 22.38 in first place.
