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 ...

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 ...

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.

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.

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) ...

Eyebrows raised as Solomon Islands picks marathon runner for Olympic sprint In 2021, Firisua was named the tourism ambassador for the chain of islands in the western South Pacific, according to ...

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.