When Sha’Carri Richardson arrived at the 2019 NCAA Championships, she was just a 19-year-old LSU freshman. But by the end of the night, she had become the fastest woman in NCAA history. Richardson clocked 10.75 seconds in the 100m final, and in doing so, she broke the 30-year-old collegiate record of 10.78 set by her fellow LSU sprinter Dawn Sowell. For the next seven years, no collegiate athlete could run faster, until a 20-year-old University of Georgia freshman took to the tracks.

Adaejah Hodge, who was banned until recently, came into the NCAA Outdoor Championships as the 2nd fastest collegiate woman of all time with a 10.77 notched earlier this season. Despite her run of form, no one could have predicted her performance on June 12 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.  In the opening heat of the women’s 100m preliminaries, the British Virgin Islands sprinter clocked 10.63 seconds, shattering Sha’Carri Richardson’s NCAA record by 0.12 seconds.

With a legal 1.9 m/s tailwind behind her, Hodge exploded from the blocks and quickly separated herself from the field. By the final 40 meters, the outcome was obvious. Yet, while the crowd reacted to a historic performance, Hodge was unaware of what she had accomplished. After crossing the finish line, she headed straight into the tunnel and didn’t know what she’d done until an official stopped her and said her spikes had to be checked because she had just broken the NCAA record.

“I don’t know what I ran because it’s just business at the end of the day. This is just Day 1. We still have to come back on Saturday for Day 2,” Hodge said afterward. “I didn’t want to get caught up in times or anything, but mainly execution.”

The record-breaking run pushed Hodge into a tie for fifth on the women’s all-time world list at 10.63. Only four women have ever run faster, with Melissa Jefferson-Wooden sitting just ahead at 10.61. At the very top remains Florence Griffith Joyner’s record of 10.49, which means Hodge would need to find another 0.14 seconds to claim the fastest time ever recorded by a woman.

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But at the same time, the field behind Hodge was impressive in its own right. LSU’s Shawnti Jackson finished second in a personal-best 10.88 to earn an automatic qualifying spot, while USC’s Brianna Selby advanced in 10.94. Tennessee’s Dana Wilson clocked a personal-best 11.01, and South Carolina’s JaMeesia Ford followed in 11.02.

Hodge did not stop with breaking Sha’Carri Richardson’s previous NCAA record. She ran the 200m preliminaries again a few hours later and clocked in 21.96 to set the quickest qualifying time in the field. The mark made her the sixth-fastest collegiate performer in history over 200m, second only to her own 10.63 in the 100m, and a match for the fastest same-day 100m/200m double ever.

The feat is reminiscent of sprint legend Merlene Ottey’s heroics at the Weltklasse Zurich meeting on August 15, 1990 (100m in 10.93s and 200 in 21.66s). Yet Hodge’s rise has sparked discussion for another reason, with parts of her journey mirroring that of Sha’Carri Richardson, who also faced a suspension early in her career.

Adaejah Hodge addresses suspension controversy after record-breaking run

Before becoming the fastest collegiate woman in history, Adaejah Hodge served a 17-month doping suspension from August 2024 to January 2026 after testing positive for metabolites of GW501516. The positive test stemmed from the 2024 World U20 Championships in Lima, Peru, where she won silver in the 100m and gold in the 200m.

The case was unusual because the suspension was not publicly announced until March 2026, two months after it had already been completed. According to the Athletics Integrity Unit, the delay occurred because Hodge provided substantial assistance to an ongoing investigation. The AIU also determined that the violation was not intentional and stated that Hodge did not knowingly ingest the prohibited substance.

Just hours after breaking Sha’Carri Richardson’s NCAA record, Hodge addressed the controversy. “It is what it is on paper,” Hodge said. “And I know the truth behind it. A lot of people may say what they want to say, but those are just haters. Life goes on.”

The comparison to Richardson comes from the fact that both sprinters had to overcome suspensions early in their careers. In Richardson’s case, she was suspended for one month in 2021 after testing positive for THC. The positive test came shortly after she won the women’s 100m at the U.S. Olympic Trials and was set to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.

The suspension cost her a chance to compete in the Olympic 100m, but it did not define her career. Instead, Sha’Carri Richardson made history after that in 2023. She won the women’s 100m title at the World Championships in Budapest in 10.65 seconds.

Soon after, she was being compared to Flo-Jo. While Sha’Carri Richardson never challenged Florence Griffith Joyner’s world record of 10.49, her 10.65 tied her for fifth on the all-time list at that time. Today, she has moved down to sixth all-time alongside Shericka Jackson.

Whether Hodge can follow a similar path is still unclear. What is certain is that, like Richardson before her, she is now at the center of one of the biggest stories in track and field.