Sharon Firisua’s 2024 Paris Olympics were a sprint. She probably would have preferred a marathon. 

The Solomon Islands’ top marathon runner tackled her first sprint race in the women’s 100-meter on Friday on track and field’s biggest stage. Firisua, 30, decided to chase her Olympic dreams no matter the event, and the Olympics’ wildcard system allowed her to do just that.

Usually a distance runner, Firisua competed in the 5,000m in the 2016 Rio Olympics and the marathon in 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she placed 72nd with a time of 3:02:10. This time around, though, she used the starting blocks for the first time, finishing last in the 100m preliminary round with a personal best time of 14.31.

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Firisua holds the Solomon Islands’ record in the mile, 3000m, 3000m steeplechase, 5000m, 10,000m and marathon and was the country’s flag bearer in Tokyo and Paris. 

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When Firisua failed to qualify for Paris in the marathon, Solomon Islands officials awarded her the nation’s sole wildcard spot in the women’s 100m competition, the AP reported. Wildcard spots, or universality places, are allocated to smaller, underrepresented nations at the Olympics to allow some of their athletes to compete even if they fail to meet the other qualifying requirements. 

Firisua is just one of two athletes representing the Solomon Islands. The South Pacific nation also sent swimmer Isabella Millar. 

However, while Firisua’s participation certainly made for a compelling narrative it did not come without controversy. The nation’s leading sprinters questioned why they had been snubbed in favor of Firisua, who had never competed a distance below 1500m at the top level.

Jovita Arunia, a sprinter from the Solomon Islands whose 100m season best of 13.15 seconds is over one second faster than Firisua’s, voiced frustration with the selection process. 

“We're the (actual) sprinters ... I don't know what went wrong, it's unbelievable," Arunia told ABC Australia. “I will not compete anymore because of what they did.”

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