Sha’Carri Richardson overcomes wobbly start for win in first heat at Olympic trials WSB-TV Channel 2 [Video]

EUGENE, Ore. — (AP) — Her burst out of the starting block was more like a wobble. Sha’Carri Richardson also raced with one of her shoelaces untied.

None of it mattered much on the opening night of U.S. Olympic track trials. Even in a race that was far from a masterpiece, Richardson was the fastest 100-meter sprinter in Friday’s preliminary round and set herself up to race for a spot in the Paris Olympics.

She finished in 10.88 seconds — fastest of any of the 34 sprinters spread over four races, and a mere .02 seconds off the time she ran three years ago, when she won the trials, only to have the victory erased by a positive test for marijuana.

“That tells me I’m prepared,” she said in a post-race interview with NBC. “I just need to put it all together.”

Richardson will be back on the track Saturday for the semifinals. …