Sharon Firisua, middle, of Solomon Islands, competes in the women's 100-meter run at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France.

PARIS — For Sharon Firisua of the Solomon Islands, the Olympics are not a marathon, they're a sprint. In a turn of events that could only happen here, the Solomon Islands placed the 30-year-old ...

Solomon Islands' Sharon Firisua (left) competes in the women's 100m heat at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France on Friday. AFP Paris: Move over ‘Eric the Eel’.

In an unusual move, the Solomon Islands placed a long-distance runner in its lone spot for the 100 meters at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

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 ...

Unlike Eric Moussambani's celebrated swim at the Sydney Olympics, a Solomon Islands marathon runner's selection for the Paris 100m sprint has drawn anger and raised questions back home.

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Sharon Firisua of the Solomon Islands resembled and acted like a sprinter setting up her starting blocks. But when the gun went off, she was a marathoner trying to sprint.

Sharon Firisua, of Solomon Islands, competes in the women's 100-meter run at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) ...

This was her third trip to the Olympics — and first as a sprinter. She ran the 5,000 meters during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and the marathon at the Tokyo Games in 2021.