Benjamin Richardson’s search to rediscover his form of last season continues after another disappointing performance on the European circuit on Tuesday evening.
Richardson faded dramatically in the men’s 100m final at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, sliding backwards from front place to fifth as he clocked 10.18.
His placing was one of three fifth places for South Africans on the night, with Tshepo Tshite and Charne Swart-Du Plessis finishing the same in their 1,500m and 800m contests.
Richardson, who missed the 100m final at the Olympics by two-hundredths of a second, had a breakthrough season in 2024 before getting injured in Paris days before his 4x100m teammates bagged a historic Olympic silver. He still has work to do to win his place back in the relay.
Richardson executed a good start and drove out impressively, taking the lead early and holding it beyond the halfway mark. But when he needed to shift into top gear, he looked as if he was reversing as four of his rivals overhauled him with ease.
Romell Glave of Britain won in 10.08 with Canadian Jerome Blake second in 10.09.
Richardson had the satisfaction of beating Canadian Olympic star Andre de Grasse, who was sixth in 10.23, and Marcell Jacobs of Italy, the 100m champion at Tokyo 2020, finished last in 10.44.
Tshite had to settle for fifth in the men’s 1,500m, unable to keep up with the attack over the final 300 metres.
Tshite crossed the line in 3 min 35.22 sec, nearly two seconds behind Ethiopian winner Ermiyas Girma in 3:33.49.
Medical student Swart-Du Plessis found herself running in the second lane in the early stages of her race, and again tried to attack going around her rivals, but she was unable to outsprint them as she finished in 2:00.26, less than a second behind Swiss victor Audrey Werro.
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