Just a week after Jamaican star Shericka Jackson dominated Sha’Carri Richardson in the Shanghai 200m, any hopes of a swift American revenge vanished at the Xiamen Diamond League. Jackson was 0.01 away from smashing the world lead, but Richardson hit a familiar roadblock as her outdoor season falters.

Shericka Jackson produced one of the strong performance at Egret Stadium by stopping the clock at 21.87 seconds. It was a meeting record and just 0.01 seconds shy of the world lead of 21.86 set by Julien Alfred in women’s 200m at the Texas Invitational in April. The win also came with a $10,000 prize, adding another strong result to her early season.

Behind her, Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas finished second in 22.04, while Team USA’s Anavia Battle took third in 22.29. It was the same podium as Shanghai, while former world 100m champion Richardson once again ended fourth, this time in 22.38.

Richardson covered the first 10m in 2.04s and tied with Amy Hunt, who also covered the first 10m in 2.04s. She showed an improved reaction time of 0.153 in Xiamen, and it was an improvement of 0.164 from what she showed in Shanghai. However, she still ended with a fourth-place finish in both races.

It continued Sha’Carri’s streak of fourth-place finishes and near misses of the podium. At the 2024 Shanghai Diamond League, she finished 4th in the 200m with 22.42, again 4th in the 200m at the 2024 US Olympic Trials with 22.16. And later in 2025 had more tough finishes, including 4th at the Tokyo Golden Grand Prix (11.47) and 5th in the 100m final at the World Championships in Tokyo (10.94). Even with that, her 200m best remains her 21.61 run from 2023, which still stands as her strongest marker in the event.

Richardson did show a slight improvement compared to her 22.42 in Shanghai, but it was still not enough to close the gap with the leaders, as she still couldn’t make it to the top 3 finishers. And a big part of her challenge comes from her start, which has often put her on the back foot in the 200m before.

Richardson is not among the early leaders in most of her races. She is usually sitting around 4th to 6th position in the first half before using her strong finish to try to recover ground. The issue is that at this level, the gap early on becomes too hard to fully recover by the end. Like in the 2024 Olympic final, that problem was clearly visible.

Performance Lab in California, on their YouTube video, broke down how Richardson’s early upright posture and a unique lateral arm and head rhythm, combined with a deliberate coaching strategy, led to her slow starts and strong finishes.

At the 100-meter final at the Paris Olympics, with a reaction time of 0.221 seconds, she was the slowest in the field, while winner Julien Alfred reacted in 0.144 seconds. That difference meant she had extra ground to make up from the very beginning.

Richardson is training under a new coach, Dennis Mitchell, and trains with her partner, Christian Coleman, who smashed the world record with a 6.34-second performance in the 60m dash. She is trying to break her unlucky streak of 4th place finishes with her new team.

On the other side, Shericka Jackson’s form continues to set the standard.  She has now moved from 22.07 in Shanghai to 21.87 in Xiamen. It is the kind of form she has shown before, including her 21.41 run in 2023, one of the fastest 200m performances in history. She is not at that peak yet, but the early signs are already strong.

That leaves one big question about when the breakthrough run finally arrives.

The story behind Sha’Carri Richardson and Shericka Jackson on the track

The first clear overlap between Sha’Carri Richardson and Shericka Jackson came at the 2021 Prefontaine Classic. The race also featured Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and a returning Richardson after suspension. Jackson finished in the leading group in 10.76, while Richardson struggled in her comeback race and finished last in 11.14 seconds. At that point, there was no real rivalry yet, just two athletes at very different stages. Richardson summed it up simply after the race: “I’m not done.”

By 2023, the picture changed fast. In Doha, Richardson won the 100m in 10.76 seconds with Jackson second in 10.85, marking their first real head-to-head battle at full strength. A few weeks later at the Prefontaine Classic, Jackson hit back and won in 10.70, while Richardson finished fourth in 10.80. The back-and-forth made it clear both were now competing at the same level.

The biggest moment came at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. In the 100m final, Richardson won gold in 10.65 seconds, with Jackson taking silver in 10.72. In the 200m, Jackson responded with a huge 21.41, one of the fastest times in history. For Richardson, the rivalry has become something she openly values.

“You have to have that person, or you have to have that individual or that country that you know, like, hey, they’re gonna bring their A-game every time they see you, so I got to bring my A-game every time I see them,” she said.

“I feel like the track girlies, Sherika, they’re phenomenal, beautiful women. Off the track, they live their lives and make sure to show up as much work as they put on their bodies; they look very nice. So we like to live in this lifestyle. The fashion in itself is a job, but it’s much more fun. Not as hard as running and training, but fashion is another way of expression when it comes to our hair, our nails,” she added while recapping their rivalry off the track.

It was not to be at the Xiamen DL, but when she appears in the women’s 100m at the Prefontaine Classic in July, she will be aiming to get one back against Jackson.