The 200-meter world champion Torrie Lewis, an Australian teenager, stunned the sports world on Saturday by defeating world champion Sha’Carri Richardson at the Diamond League competition in China. Although Lewis rose to fame in Australia in recent months, she expanded her dazzling exploits to a global audience on Saturday night.
The 19-year-old Australian made a big impression ahead of the July Olympics in Paris by winning the 200 meters in her individual Diamond League debut. In January, Lewis set a new Australian record for the 100 meters in Canberra with a time of 11.10 seconds, capping an incredible home-based season.
Saturday against a somewhat more formidable foe. The 19-year-old defeated big gun Tamara Clark and her idol, 00-meter world champion Richardson, in lane nine, winning handily.
When questioned after the picture was taken if she thought she could win the race beforehand, the young Newcastle girl said, “Not at all!” Richardson lost to Lewis by just 0.03 seconds, with Lewis clocking in at 22.96 and Clark at 23.01.
It was, astonishingly, Lewis’s second-fastest 200-meter time in his illustrious career. She also moved one step closer to breaking the Australian Under-20 record established 56 years ago by Raelene Boyle and the 22.57 Olympic qualifying requirement.
Lewis remarked, “Beating Sha’Carri was so surreal.” “Until I watched the replay, I was unaware that I had defeated them.
I exclaimed, “Holy Crap!” Very strange!
“I just wanted to hang on as long as I could. Since I was in lane nine, I knew they would all be 50 or 60 meters ahead of me, but all I wanted was to perform as best as I could. I knew I had an advantage going in because I had just raced my opponents for the first time, but I wasn’t totally sure because I hadn’t raced them before. I came here directly from the championships.”
With Georgia Griffith and Sarah Billings being the fourth and fifth Australian women, respectively, to finish the 1500m in under four minutes, it was a great night for Australia on the international front. Griffith recorded 3:59.04 seconds to