Sha’Carri Richardson picked up speed down the stretch and turned her first run in Tokyo into a season-best, It was a first-place finish in 11.03 seconds in her opening heat of the 100 meters at the world championships

United States' Sha'Carri Richardson gestures after finishing a women's 100 meters heat at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

TOKYO (AP) — Sha'Carri Richardson picked up speed down the stretch and turned her first run in Tokyo into a season-best — a first-place finish in 11.03 seconds in her opening heat of the 100 meters at the world championships Saturday.

For Richardson, it was a successful debut at Japan National Stadium — for others, a return to Tokyo that felt nothing like the last trip during the COVID-tainted Olympics in 2021 that had athletes performing in front of empty seats.

This time, a full stadium.

“They're really excited to be here,” said American long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall, the reigning Olympic champion who needed only one jump to move on to Sunday's medal round. “They love life out here, and I'm just so happy I was able to be out here with a crowd.”

In the 100, everyone who was expected to make it through the first round did without a problem.

That included Olympic champion Julien Alfred (10.93 seconds), 38-year-old five-time World champ Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (11.09), her Jamaican teammates Tina Clayton (11.01) and Shericka Jackson (11.04) and America's fastest sprinter of 2025 and the favorite to win the 100 on Sunday, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (10.99).

“I already hold myself to a really high standard and expectation,” Jefferson-Wooden said when asked if the favorite's role bothered her. “As far as the pressures of the outside world, I don't really feel it as much. I keep the main thing the main thing, which is go out there and focus on Melissa.”

Richardson, who missed the 2021 Olympics because of a positive marijuana test, came in as the biggest question mark after a season slowed by injuries that didn't include a run under 11 seconds. Her start, never a strong point, wasn't good in this one; she was in the back half of the field with about 40 meters left.

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United States' Sha'Carri Richardson gestures as she is introduced before a women's 100 meters heat at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

But she won the world championship two years ago in Budapest with a late drive out in Lane 9, and there were signs that is still there. She raced hard to the line to beat Jackson, the silver medalist in 2022 and '23, by .01. The 11.03 was the fifth-fastest time of the night.

The men's heats were scheduled for later Saturday, with Noah Lyles, Kenny Bednarek, Kishane Thompson and Italy's Marcell Jacobs, who won Olympic gold on this track four years ago, all on the start list.

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United States' Sha'Carri Richardson gestures after finishing a women's 100 meters heat at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, left, and The Ivory Coast's Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith react after crossing the finish line in the women's 100 meters heat at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

United States' Melissa Jefferson-Wooden competes in a women's 100 meters heat at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)