M10News Sports Desk|2 August 2025
EUGENE, OREGON – Reigning world 100m champion Sha’Carri was arrested last weekend in Washington state on suspicion of assaulting her boyfriend, just days before competing in the USA Track & Field Championships.
The 25-year-old sprinter was detained on Sunday at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and charged with fourth-degree domestic violence, according to a police report obtained by the Associated Press.
The incident occurred four days before she appeared in the opening heats of the women’s 100m event at the USATF Championships in Eugene, where she holds an automatic berth to this year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo as the defending world champion.
Police said Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff alerted an officer at the airport to a disturbance involving Richardson and her boyfriend, who was later identified as American sprinter Christian Coleman.
According to surveillance footage reviewed by the officer, Richardson was seen reaching out and yanking Coleman’s backpack away with her left arm. The report added that she appeared to block his path, forcing Coleman to try and step around her.
The officer wrote that during the interaction, Coleman was shoved into a wall. The video also appeared to show Richardson throwing an object — possibly headphones — in Coleman’s direction, based on TSA accounts cited in the report.
Despite the altercation, police said Coleman declined to press charges. “I was told Coleman did not want to participate any further in the investigation and declined to be a victim,” the officer noted in the report.
Richardson was taken into custody and booked at the South Correctional Entity (SCORE) jail in Des Moines, Washington, at 6:54 p.m. local time on Sunday. She was released on bail the following afternoon at 1:13 p.m.
The USA Track & Field governing body issued a brief statement following media inquiries. “USATF is aware of the reports and is not commenting on this matter,” it said.
Her legal team has not issued a public response, and it remains unclear whether the arrest will impact her eligibility for future meets or team selections.
Despite the arrest, Richardson remains eligible to compete at the World Championships in Tokyo this September, where she is expected to defend her 100m crown without needing to qualify through national trials.
The Texas-born sprinter rose to international prominence in recent years with her bold style and powerful performances, but her career has also been marked by controversy, including a suspension that ruled her out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The arrest adds another layer of scrutiny ahead of the global athletics season, as governing bodies, sponsors, and fans await further developments.
M10News Sports Desk | Contact: info@m10news.com|© 2025 M10News.
