What shoes did Sha'Carri Richardson wear at Paris Olympics? All about Nike's custom-designed spikes for the American sprinter

By Zahid Rashid Dar

Modified Aug 14, 2024 13:25 GMT

Sha'Carri Richardson entered the Paris Olympics 2024 as the fastest woman of the year, and an overwhelming favorite to win the 100m gold. Though she settled for silver behind Julien Alfred in the 100m event, Richardson did end up winning the gold in the women's 4x100m relay.

During her races inside the Stade de France, the official venue of track and field events at the Paris Olympics, Richardson was spotted wearing an exclusive green-colored Nike Mayfly 2 spikes. The American sprinter reportedly signed a $20 million deal with Nike earlier this year and has regularly been spotted sporting the brand's apparel.

The shoes Richardson was wearing are Nike's new sprinting spike, which comes as a part of the brand's ‘Electric Pack' collection. While the majority of the Mayfly 2 spikes Nike has produced are orange colored, the world champion's exclusive spike featured shades of green as well as a special design.

Sha'Carri Richardson's left spike had ‘‘I'm not back’ written on it while the right one read "I'm better". The Nike Mayfly 2 spikes are designed for 100m and 400m sprinters and hurdlers and come with Nike's famous Air Zoom forefront unit, a carbon fiber Fly Plate, and a Flyweave top half.

Richardson was heading as favorite into the 100m finals before Julien Alfred hit her top form at the right time. The American sprinter got off to a usual start, but couldn't catch Alfred down the line, finishing second in 10.87s. The St. Lucian sprinter was crowned champion after she clocked a time of 10.72s, a hundredth of a second slower than Richardson’s season-best -10.71s.

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Sha'Carri Richardson explains her viral stare-down during the women's 4x100m relay final

The Olympic Games-Paris 2024 -Sha'Carri Richardson (Source: Getty)

Sha'Carri Richardson ran the anchor leg for Team USA in the women’s 4x100m relay final. She clocked a blistering 10.09s split to earn her maiden gold medal, a run that saw an iconic staredown in track and field.

With over 30m to go, Richardson sprung ahead of Germany and Great Britain’s sprinters and gave them a fiery look. When asked to describe that moment, the 24-year-old told "Refinery29":

"I looked over and I just knew that no matter what was going on, there was nobody that I was going to allow — even myself — to be in front of me. I wasn't going to even allow myself to not cross that finish line in the first place and not get that medal, or to let down those ladies and the support that we received when it came to us crossing the finish line, in first place as Team USA."

The world champion also added that the stare was also aimed at showing the hard work the quartet had put in for that one minute of sprinting.