Top 5 fastest women in history: Sha'Carri Richardson's position

Here are the Top 5 fastest women in history featuring world 100m champion Sha’Carri Richardson and the absence of Olympic champion Julien Alfred.

Olympic silver medallist Sha’Carri Richardson may have been defeated to the 100m gold medal in Paris by Julien Alfred, however, her position remains unchanged in the list of the Top 5 world’s fastest women in history.

The world’s fastest women in history are recognised as arguably the greatest sprinters of all time as their records are currently unmatched by any athlete both dead or alive, making them revered in legendary sprinting status.

Julien Alfred defeated Sha’Carri Richardson in the 100m final at the Paris Olympic Games || Imago

Following the Paris Olympics women’s 100m final, Saint Lucia’s golden girl Alfred’s blazing-winning time of 10.71s shot her up on the all-time list, but not enough to place her in the Top 5, where Richardson firmly still holds her position as one of the fastest women in history.

Has Sha’Carri Richardson’s full potential been actualized? A look into the world’s fastest women in 2024 season

5 – Marion Jones, Shericka Jackson, and Richardson (10.65s)

The trio of Shericka Jackson, Marion Jones, and Richardson are the fifth fastest women in history with their Personal Best (PB) time of 10.65s.

Retired American sprinter Marion Jones

While Jones (now retired) clocked her time in high altitude to win the 1998 IAAF World Cup in Johannesburg, South Africa, Jackson and Richardson achieved theirs recently in the 2023 season.

Sha’Carri Richardson and Shericka Jackson at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest

Richardson ran the blistering time to claim the World Championships title in Budapest, which Jackson recorded a few weeks before to win her first 100m national title at the Jamaican Championships.

4 – Carmelita Jeter (10.64s)

Retired American speed queen Carmelita Jeter is the fourth fastest woman in history, having clocked 10.64s at the 2009 Shanghai Golden Grand Prix.

Carmelita Jeter

For over a decade, between 2009 and 2021, Jeter was called the “Fastest woman alive” until the era of Jamaican dominance. She was the 2011 world champion and the 2012 Olympic silver medalist.

Track Athlete of the Year: Julien Alfred, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, and Faith Kipyegon make tough women’s list

3 – Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.60s)

Highly regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time in terms of medals, records, and impact on the sport, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is the third fastest woman in history.

The legendary Jamaican sprinter clocked her PB of 10.60s at the 2021 Lausanne Diamond League in August, which lowered her previous best of 10.63s the same year.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is highly regarded as one of the greatest sprinters in athletics history

A dominant force in women’s sprinting, Fraser-Pryce has won more individual global sprint titles than any other female sprinter in history and she is the most decorated 100m sprinter in history as an eight-time Olympic medallist and sixteen-time outdoor World Championships medallist.

2 – Elaine Thompson-Herah (10.54s)

The 32-year-old Jamaican Olympic heroine is the fastest woman alive with her jaw-dropping PB of 10.54s clocked at the 2021 Prefontaine Classic Diamond League.

Thompson-Herah’s blazing time was performed after her tremendous outing at the Tokyo Olympics, where she successfully defended her 100m title in a new record of 10.61s and won the 200m title in 21.53s (third-fastest time in history).

World’s fastest woman alive Elaine Thompson-Herah

Also regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time, she is a five-time Olympic champion and is the first-ever female sprinter (second after Usain Bolt), to win the “sprint double” at consecutive Olympics, capturing 100m and 200m gold at the Rio 2016 and defending both titles at Tokyo 2021.

1 – Late Florence Griffith-Joyner (10.49s)

The fastest woman in history was an American speed queen who set the 100m and 200m World Records in 1988.

Griffith-Joyner on July 16, 1988, at the U.S. Olympic Trials, she achieved a stunning breakthrough when she ran the 100m in 10.49s, obliterating Evelyn Ashford’s record of 10.79. Her time was faster than the men’s records in a wide range of countries including Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and Turkey.

Late Florence Griffith-Joyner

She set another world record at Seoul 1988 Olympics in the 200m final with a stunning time of 21.34s, which still stands today.