Olympic sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson was arrested at a Seattle airport on Sunday following an incident with boyfriend and fellow Team USA star Christian Coleman, according to reports.
The Athletic claims Richardson, who won a 100m silver and 4x100m relay gold medal at last year’s Paris Games, was held in custody for just shy of 19 hours after being arrested on a domestic violence assault charge.
It is believed the 25-year-old first got into a heated argument with Coleman, her boyfriend of the last two years, at the TSA security checkpoint in Seattle Tacoma International Airport before an officer claims to have witnessed her shoving him multiple times as he tried to walk away.
Footage of the alleged incident was reportedly captured on security camera, with cops deeming it enough probable cause to arrest her.
The officer reviewed camera footage and observed Richardson reaching out with her left arm and grabbing Coleman’s backpack before yanking it away. She then appeared to get in his way as he tried to step around her. Coleman was then shoved into a wall.
The report later said that Richardson seemingly threw an item at Coleman, which the TSA indicated may have been headphones.
Sha’Carri Richardson was arrested at a Seattle airport Sunday on a domestic violence charge
The Olympic sprinter reportedly got into an argument with boyfriend and fellow Team USA star Christian Coleman (left) before she was arrested by cops
Coleman is said to have told police officers that he has dated his fellow sprinter for two years
The offense was listed as a fourth-degree domestic violence assault, The Athletic reports. Coleman allegedly refused to press charges and ‘declined to be a victim’ before the case was cleared.
Police records indicate that Richardson landed in custody at the SCORE South Correctional Facility in Des Moines, Wash at 6:54pm on Sunday, before she was released at 1:30pm on Monday.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Port of Seattle Police Department for more information, while Richardson’s agent and USA Track and Field have been approached for comment.
Coleman is said to have told officers that Richardson is his girlfriend of two years, despite their relationship only becoming public knowledge in February of this year.
The couple both raced in Thursday’s preliminary rounds at the 2025 USA Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Richardson posted a time of 11.07 seconds in the first round of the women’s 100m race, while Coleman ran 10.08 in the men’s heat, but the former then withdrew from the semifinals the following day. She was back in the field later on Friday for the women’s 200m.
Richardson hadn’t raced for eight months before making her return in May, with Thursday’s heat her third race of 2025 and fastest time.
Richardson was in action at the USA Track & Field Championships in Oregon on Thursday
As the reigning 100m World Champion, she already has an automatic bid to this year’s World Championships in Tokyo. Noah Lyles, who has an automatic bid in the men’s 100m, also announced he was pulling out of the 100m final on Friday.
After her prelims race on Thursday, Richardson explained why racing again meant so much to her.
She said: ‘Being able to compete; feeling healthy, going out there and executing no matter what [and] just being the best athlete I can be… just to run a qualifying round, show fitness and take the rest of the time to get ready for Tokyo.’
Richardson previously landed herself in hot water when a positive marijuana test at the 2021 US Olympic trials meant she didn’t compete at the Tokyo Games that year.
