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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Sha\u2019Carri Richardson laughed out loud. Then she realised her manager was serious.<\/p>\n The world 100 metres champion, fifth-fastest woman in the world ever, Olympic silver medallist<\/a>, member of multiple American gold medal-winning relay teams (including Olympics), and one of the biggest figures in world track and field was posed the question: how do you feel about racing in Stawell?<\/p>\n \u201cWhat? Where?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Stawell Gift, surely you\u2019ve heard of it. It\u2019s a race on grass on an oval in a small sheep farming town on the other side of the world?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBaa-ha ha. Good one. Wait, what? You\u2019re serious? Why would I do that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThink of it as a training run you get paid for.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cYou know, I\u2019ve always liked Australia \u2013 they have those funny animals and nice beaches. Aren\u2019t the Olympics down there soon?\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s close to verbatim the conversation that occurred when the idea of running in a small Victorian town on the other side of the world was proposed to the American superstar.<\/p>\n With that, Richardson, and her boyfriend Christian Coleman \u2013 hardly a handbag in this arrangement, given he was world champion in 2019, the fastest man ever over 60 metres, and with world indoors gold medals to his name \u2013 agreed to compete at the Stawell Gift.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Emanuel [Hudson, her agent] presented the idea of coming [to Stawell], I definitely thought it was funny and unique. I definitely laughed and giggled before he said, \u2018No, I am serious\u2019,\u201d Richardson said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I was like, \u2018OK, this is something I can come and do\u2019, and I definitely thought this would be like a glorified practice. Like, being on grass, it reminds me of what I used to do, being a child running \u2026 we were just running in the field. I thought why not do that?\u201d<\/p>\n Encouraged by moderator Jason Richardson, the amiable TV host and former Stawell Gift winner, to qualify that, once she understood the quality of the competition, she realised she might need to turn on the jets and extend herself, Richardson, the American, not the white bald Australian from Vermont South, held her ground.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I still think it\u2019s going to be practice \u2013 a glorified practice. I will put the glorified in front of it. It challenges me to do what it is I have been practicing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course it is. No one thinks Richardson is coming to Stawell from a burning desire to win the Gift and claim a place in athletics history. But who cares? She is also the greatest female sprinter to race in Victoria outside of a major championship, and she is so good that glorified practice or not she could still win on Easter Monday.<\/p>\n Even early in the racing season, off scratch, in a handicapped race, on grass, between ropes, in a small town on the other side of the world, she can win. She is that good.<\/p>\n She trains over 120m, but it is such a quirky distance no one races over it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe definitely do 120s in training, but competing over 120 is a different thing. I would definitely say the 120 is going to challenge me. It\u2019s not something I have worked on before,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Longer spikes?<\/p>\n \u201cIf it came down to it, I could easily run barefoot. As long as we got grass, and I got feet, I am good,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI am actually super-excited to experience to all of Australia, city life as well as country life. I was raised by my grandmother, she was a country girl, and we used to go visit all the time when I was younger.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like at home, doing a foot race, going to the country is something that reminds me of my inner child, my inner little girl racer is coming out, and I\u2019m super excited. To feel skin on grass, I\u2019m ready.\u201d<\/p>\n Coleman was excited. At 30, the sport was still bringing him to places he hadn\u2019t been and to do things he hadn\u2019t done. It\u2019s doubtful running in a small Wimmera sheep grazing town was on his bucket list, but visiting his sixth continent was.<\/p>\n He was also attracted to the origin of the 120m Gift distance deriving from a challenge between drinkers in two rival South Yorkshire pubs to decide who was the quicker to run between the pubs 130 yards apart (130 yards in the old, 120 metres in the new, but a pint is still a pint in the pub).<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cThis is my first time in Australia. I can officially cross off my sixth continent. To be this far in my career and still have new experiences, and come to an event I have never been to, [and] I had never really heard of before \u2013 it is really exciting to be part of,\u201d Coleman said.<\/p>\n To secure this couple, the glamour couple of sprinting and two of the greatest sprinters the world has seen, for a country Victorian town is extraordinary. It is due, again, in large part to the largesse of Sandy McGregor<\/a>, the low-key Wimmera businessman and philanthropist who funded Gout Gout racing there last year, and stumped up again to bring the American superstar couple out.<\/p>\n Every girl and woman in that race is never likely to race anyone like her, certainly not in conditions like that. No one at the track is ever going to see a world and olympic champion and one of the greatest female sprinters the world has ever seen in an environment like it. Sha\u2019Carri is right \u2013 it is glorious.<\/p>\n When she says it is glorified practice, words can deceive. You have to remind yourself how a world champion trains. Her jog is your sprint. Her sweat is your heart attack.<\/p>\n So it began as a laugh, was rationalised as glorified training, and now it\u2019s become a race.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe I can win this weekend and I will do everything in my power to win this weekend \u2013 I\u2019m not going to leave the grass without leaving everything on the grass,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Sha\u2019Carri](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/673b83fbabd4272e99028e50e0efe56a37456816.jpeg\")
Sha\u2019Carri Richardson is one of the biggest names in athletics and will be the star attraction at this year\u2019s Stawell Gift.Luke Hemer \/ Stawell Gift<\/p>\n![\"Richardson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/b49c976ad3f529ab3614efe9005455b07bd8e2a8.jpeg\")
Richardson with her partner, and fellow sprint star, Christian Coleman.Luke Hemer \/ Stawell Gift<\/p>\n![\"Gout](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/6fb02351edcf575351987ae4e73b0b6d0b076698.jpeg\")
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Michael Gleeson<\/a> is an award-winning senior sports writer specialising in AFL and athletics.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-580798","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}