Richardson headed to Belgium on Wednesday morning and is looking forward to racing at a packed King Baudouin Stadium. "It's my first time in Brussels, everything is going to plan so far," she said. "I'm enjoying it, for me every new European country is an experience on its own. Mentally and physically I feel ready to go."
Richardson, who showed great speed earlier this year in the 100 metres, is hoping an enthusiastic crowd will push her to her first run below the 22-second mark.
"In this company I feel like a baby because there are so many girls that have done a time of 21 seconds. At the start of a 200m I am just as eager as for a 100m and hopefully I can prove it with a fast time. My coach and I are working really hard to do well on both distances, so I really want to go below 22 seconds.
At 21 Richardson is part of a new generation taking on established stars like Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah. That Jamaican duo was faster than ever in 2021, getting ever closer to Florence Griffith-Joyner's mythical world records on the 100m and 200m.
"We haven't seen this level since Flo-Jo," Richardson acknowledged. "I hope her world record gets broken and that in time I can bring it back to the United States."
In a short period of time Richardson has become a star in her own right and believes she has found the right approach to deal with all the media scrutiny that comes with her new-found status.
"The media are part of it. If you perform well as an athlete you're a hero and if you don't, or you go against what's expected of you, they spit you out," she explained. "I would call it a love-hate relationship, but I believe in positivity so I prefer love. I try to live in my own world as much as I can so I can shut myself off from what others say about me. I'm the sixth-fastest sprinter of all time and I know the best is yet to come."
