An American athletics star has missed out on a golden opportunity in the 100m final, ruining her perfect redemption story.

America is coming to terms with a gold medal gone begging after Sha’Carri Richardson had to settle for silver in a women’s 100m final that had no shortage of drama on Sunday morning (AEST).

The American superstar was expected to claim gold after winning the 100m at last year’s world championships.

Some pre-race drama paved the way for her too when Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was locked out of the stadium and withdrew from the semi-finals with whispers of a hamstring injury.

Another Jamaican, Tokyo bronze medallist Shericka Jackson, withdrew from the 100m to “protect her body” and focus on the 200m.

Jamaica’s five-time Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah also wasn’t racing after suffering an Achilles injury earlier this year.

So Richardson, 24, was the red-hot favourite to win gold and complete her redemption story after a positive test for cannabis ruled her out of the Tokyo Olympics.

But it was Julien Alfred (10.72s) who raced down the straight in a national record as she beat home two Americans — Richardson (10.87) and Melissa Jefferson (10.92).

Alfred claimed the first every Olympic gold for Saint Lucia — a Caribbean nation with a population of just 180,000.

Melissa Jefferson, St Lucia’s Julien Alfred and Sha’Carri Richardson pose after the 100m final. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP)
It was a massive boilover, given Richardson had been hotly tipped to become the first American to win the coveted Olympic 100m crown since 1996.

But the Texan’s dreams of victory were utterly eclipsed by Alfred’s victory.

The semi-final proved to be an ominous warning for Richardson, who was slow out of the blocks and never looked like reeling in Alfred, who could even afford to ease up as she crossed the line to clinch gold.

Sha'Carri Richardson just never recovered from this reaction time – 0.221. Look at the rest of the field.

Was too much ground/momentum to make up pic.twitter.com/OU0MI88naD

— Nick McCarvel (@NickMcCarvel) August 3, 2024

Alfred was in tears of celebration after sealing her win, running to ring the trackside victory bell before wrapping herself in her country’s flag and embracing her American rivals amid a deafening roar from the appreciative Parisian crowd as she set off on her lap of honour.

Richardson meanwhile was left wondering what had gone wrong with an Olympics campaign that had promised to deliver a gold.

The American, who upset the odds to win gold at last year’s World Championships in Budapest, had been hoping to complete her journey to the pinnacle of her sport.

Richardson had framed her campaign in Paris as a bid for redemption, coming three years after she was barred from competing at the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for marijuana as she grieved the death of her biological mother.

St Lucia’s Julien Alfred on easily in the end. (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP)
And in the build-up to the Games, the stars appeared to be aligning in favour of the flamboyant world champion, with Thompson-Herah, Jackson and Fraser-Pryce all dropping out.

But any hope that fate was smiling on Richardson was snuffed out by the imperious Alfred, who was never going to be denied as she hammered down the rain-slicked track to claim St. Lucia’s maiden Olympic medal.

The NY Post described Richardson’s silver as a “downer”.

One athletics fan wrote on X: “A little island but everyone on the island could fit between that gap between Julien and Sha’Carri.”

Former NFL star Robert Griffin III said: “Julien Alfred JUST SHOCKED THE WORLD and beat Sha’Carri Richardson. She was HIGH STEPPING IN THE RAIN and all 180,854 people from Saint Lucia are storming the streets for their new Queen.”

Hopes had been high for Richardson. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Former Australian athletics star John Steffensen praised Richardson for fighting back from her slow start to get on the podium.

“Julien Alfred was magnificent, she did everything she had to do to win that race,” Steffensen said on Stan Sport’s Olympics Daily.

“She ran through the rounds wonderfully, and in the semi-final I thought she got in the head of Sha’carri, I thought she handled the moment really, really well and she did what a champion needs to do throughout the rounds, get better every round and run a personal best in the final and that’s the way you become Olympic champion.”

Another gold went begging for the USA. (Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP)
“When it came to the final, daylight was almost second, Sha’carri did everything to try to catch Julien but Julien was just gone,” Steffensen said.

“We should give Sha’Carri a bit of love here I just think if that was the way you were going to lose the Olympic championship, that’s the way to do it.

“I said the start’s going to be her (Sha’Carri’s) biggest weakness, that’s the way she’s going to lose the race, and against someone with the stride and strength of Julien, you just can’t catch someone with the calibre of Julien if you give her a start.

“But she did (fight hard) she was in (trouble) halfway through that race and she came through for second so she should be super, super proud because if that’s the worst result she could get, it’s a very good one.”