US sprint star Sha'Carri Richardson recovered from a shaky start to win her opening 100 metres heat in convincing fashion at the US Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, on Friday.
The 24-year-old reigning world 100m champion stumbled out of the blocks at Hayward Field before regaining her composure to sweep to an ultimately comfortable victory in 10.88secs, the fourth-fastest time in the world this year.
"Definitely not the start I wanted," Richardson said, while taking satisfaction from a brisk time in her opening race of the trials. "It says that I'm prepared, I just need to put it all together."
Richardson hopes to become the first American woman since Gail Devers in 1996 to be crowned Olympic 100m champion at this year's Paris Games.
The Texan's quest for Olympic glory comes three years after she won the US trials but was barred from competing in the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games after testing positive for marijuana use.
RECOGNITION AND SUPPORT
Since that career low point, however, Richardson has surged back to the pinnacle of women's sprinting with a shock victory at last year's World Championships in Budapest.
"I am enjoying the recognition of hard work, and the support that comes with it," Richardson said following her heat.
"The fact that the world can see so much work I've done on myself, for myself, and that it’s well-received. I'm appreciative and I always show up for my fans."
Richardson was comfortably the fastest qualifier for Saturday's 100m semifinals, with Melissa Jefferson next fastest in 10.91sec and McKenzie Long third quickest in 10.94sec.
Richardson was one of the biggest names in action as the Olympic trials got underway on Friday.
Elsewhere, reigning Olympic 800m champion Athing Mu made her long-awaited return from injury to qualify for the next round of her specialist event.
Mu has not raced this season as she recovers from a hamstring injury but looked composed in qualifying from her heat in a time of 2min 1.73sec.
The 22-year-old said she was happy to be back out running in familiar surroundings in Oregon, where she won a World Championships gold medal in 2022.
"This has been a great homecoming for me," Mu said after her race.
"Not being able to compete the whole season but coming here, I've always run really well when I came out here so it's awesome to have this amazing crowd here to support me.
"I feel like it was just like any other first race for me, just giving my legs a little shocker to wake up a bit, and get moving again. It's a great start for me and it just helps me for the next rounds to come."
In other events, there was an eye-catching performance in the opening men's 400m heats, where 16-year-old Quincy Wilson smashed the Under-18 world record for the discipline with a jaw-dropping time of 44.66sec.
The youngster from Maryland ran a scintillating race to finish in a time that would have been good enough to earn him a medal in some past major championships.
"I just felt very collected and very smooth," Wilson said. "Just thankful for the time and basically competing, it's a different game. I'm not running high school anymore. I'm running with the big dogs.
"So I just had to come over here and give them my all."