Richards Run Rocks Stuttgart

Phenomenal. There couldn't possibly be any other way to describe American Sanya Richards as she owned the four hundred meters she ran Sunday, the twenty-third of September 2007 in Stuttgart, Germany. With a time of 49.27 seconds (which easily matched her best world times this season, set just last week), she had almost literally left her opponents to the dust her feet had kicked up. From her explosive beginning to her breathtaking first place finish, Richards had managed to defeat all the Osaka world medalists that she faced in the event.

Fresh out of her half-million dollar win last week in the Golden League held in Berlin, Germany, it seems that the American sprinter is determined to make up for her less than stellar performance at the US Trials which left her unable to qualify for the Osaka World Championships. Richards was ill during the trials in question, but it seems that the athlete counts her runs there and refuses to make excuses for her loss (she placed fourth). She was able to run in Osaka, of course, but had a rather disappointing two hundred run and she had to settle for a gold medal in the sixteen hundred meter relay.

So serious is Richards about her lacking performance that she was known to have claimed that even winning the million would lessen her frustration with her 2007 runs only a little. Since the “losses” that had lowered her season averages considerably, she worked harder than ever to bring them back up – Richards has been consistently beating and matching her own season bests in the course of not only the six-day meet of the Golden League, but throughout the World Athletics Finals.

Her most recent Sunday run started with her trademark early surge, passing her competition early on, and was supported by a burst of power near the end of the last lap. Her win left Osaka bronze medalist Novlene Williams of Jamaica in second place with a time of 50.12 and British world champion Christine Ohuruogo, also clocking in on 50.12, in third.

Speaking of her performance, Sanya Richards remarked, “The fast time at the end of the season is no surprise to me. I tried to go out really hard and run the curve faster than normal.”

It seems that her hard work to redeem herself this season is paying off in a truly big way.