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Fans praise Sha’Carri Richardson as she heads into the 2021 Prefontaine Classic this weekend
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Photo: Getty Images
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Fans praise Sha’Carri Richardson as she heads into the 2021 Prefontaine Classic this weekend
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Richardson will compete against eight others, including three Jamaican Olympic medalists, this Saturday (Aug. 21).

After being barred from competing on her own Olympic team, Sha’Carri Richardson will soon race a trio of Olympic sprinters at the 2021 Prefontaine Classic this Saturday (Aug. 21). The 21-year-old will go up against Jamaican medalists Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson and five others in the women’s 100-meter this weekend at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

Thompson-Herah was a track star in Tokyo after winning gold medals in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 4×100 relay and becoming the first woman in history to win both the 100-meter and 200-meter at consecutive Olympics. At the Games, Thompson-Herah’s impressive performance made her the fastest woman alive and the second-fastest in 100-meter history, coming behind only Florence Griffith-Joyner, a.k.a Flo-Jo.

Fraser-Pryce also made history at this year’s Olympics, becoming the first athlete ever to win four career Olympic medals in the 100-meter. This Saturday, Richardson will enter the competition as the third-fastest woman in 2021 and the sixth-fastest in history. According to USA Today, the Dallas native has beaten Fraser-Pryce twice before in her career, but Saturday will mark her first face-off against Thompson-Herah.

To celebrate the upcoming race, Richardson shared a video on TikTok where she debuted a new blonde and blue hairstyle and egged on her competitors using a Nicki Minaj voiceover.

“I took a couple, you know, I took some time off to rest and now it’s game time bitches. You have no idea,” Richardson voiced in the clip.

On Twitter, fans cheered her on ahead of the race.

“I can’t wait to see Sha’Carri Richardson back on the track,” one fan tweeted on Thursday (Aug. 19). “May not be the Olympics, but this is still about that get back.”

“The Olympics were the opening act for the real show. Sha’Carri Richardson taking on the Jamaican Gold Medalists at the Prefontaine Classic is about to be must-see TV!” another wrote.

Richardson also responded to her supporters, tweeting, “The love y’all show me, I’ll never let the hate overshadow that. Positivity is sooo much greater than negativity. That’s why God always win and the devil fails.”

The 2021 Prefontaine Classic begins on Friday (Aug. 20) and will be livestreamed on USATF.TV. Watch Saturday’s competition on Peacock or NBC starting at 4 p.m. EST. See Richardson’s TikTok and Twitter reactions below.