Christian Coleman Improves Sprinting Weakness

Christian Coleman is working on his sprinting weaknesses with girlfriend Sha'Carri Richardson. On the 2023 World Championships 100m final, Coleman finished 5th in 9.92 seconds.

What happened?

Christian Coleman and Sha'Carri Richardson sat down for an interview on YouTube, Bruce McAvaney on Bodega Track, to discuss their training together.

Why it matters for Christian Coleman

Coleman is one of the best starters and a former 60m world record holder with a time of 6.34 seconds. He is working with Richardson to improve his finish.

Richardson consistently trails early, sitting 4th to 6th before closing, before using her top-end speed to close the gap later in the race.

What comes next?

The 2024 Olympic final saw Richardson record a reaction time of 0.221 seconds, which was the slowest in the field. By comparison, winner Julien Alfred reacted in 0.144 seconds.

Christian Coleman also explained the dynamic from his side, saying it feels “crazy training with somebody who does the things that I’m trying to learn to do, like so natural.”

And Richardson described the experience as both challenging and helpful, saying “It’s a challenge, but not a bad challenge. It’s challenging because he keeps me on my toes.”

So the couple is able to help each other, with Coleman bringing the start and early acceleration, while Richardson brings the finish.

Richardson is consistently one of the strongest closing sprinters in the world over the final 40 to 60 meters.

In the 2023 World Championships, she did not lead early but powered through the field in the second half of the race and finished with one of the strongest closing phases in the final with 10.65s.

The balance did not just happen by chance; it came after a major shift in Coleman’s career that changed everything about his training setup.